Tanina
A feminine given name of unknown origin, possibly Tibetan or Native American.
Name Census estimates that about 121 living Americans carry the first name Tanina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tanina today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tanina births was 1972 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tanina. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
121
~ 1 in 2,832,680 Americans
Peak year
1972
12 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1996 SSA rank
#15,646
Tracked since 1971
Census
Tanina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 219 people with the first name Tanina, which placed it at #36,320 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#36,320
National first-name rank
People counted
219
219 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
40.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tanina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanina is Black at 40.6%. The next largest groups are White (40.2%) and Hispanic (12.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Tanina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Tanina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American40.6% · 89
- White40.2% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino12.8% · 28
- Two or more races3.7% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 6
Popularity
Tanina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tanina from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 62 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Tanina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tanina by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Tanina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tanina
The name Tanina is believed to have its origins in the Sanskrit language of ancient India, dating back to around the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "tanaya," meaning "daughter" or "offspring." This suggests that Tanina was originally a feminine name given to girls in Hindu cultures.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Vedas and Puranas, there are references to various female characters and deities with names similar to Tanina, such as Tanaya and Tanayu. However, the specific name Tanina itself is not found in these early texts, indicating that it may have emerged as a variation or diminutive form of the original Sanskrit root later on.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Tanina can be traced back to the medieval period in South Asia, particularly in regions such as present-day India and Bangladesh. During this time, the name was commonly used among Hindu and Buddhist communities.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Tanina was a 12th-century Hindu poet and philosopher from the Vijayanagara Empire in modern-day South India. She is renowned for her works on devotional poetry and mystic philosophy.
Another notable figure named Tanina was a 16th-century Buddhist nun and scholar from the Pala Empire in present-day Bengal region. She was highly respected for her contributions to the study and preservation of Buddhist texts and teachings.
In the 18th century, there was a Tanina who was a renowned classical dancer and performer in the court of the Maratha Empire in Western India. She was praised for her grace and mastery of various traditional dance forms.
During the 19th century, a Tanina rose to prominence as a social reformer and advocate for women's education in the Bengal region of British India. She established several schools for girls and worked tirelessly to promote literacy and empowerment among women.
In more recent times, Tanina Pradhan was a 20th-century Nepali novelist and writer renowned for her works exploring themes of gender, identity, and social issues. Her novels and short stories have been widely acclaimed and translated into several languages.
People
Tanina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tanina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tanina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tanina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 121 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tanina going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,832,680 US residents.
Is Tanina a common name?
We classify Tanina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 130 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tanina most popular?
The single biggest year for Tanina was 1972, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tanina is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tanina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 219 people with the name Tanina, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,320 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Tanina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Tanina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanina appears almost entirely female. Of the 223 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Tanina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanina is Black at 40.6%. The next largest groups are White (40.2%) and Hispanic (12.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Tanina most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tanina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.6% (89 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Tanina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tanina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tanina in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Tanina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tanina in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Tanina can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Tanina?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Tanina, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.