Tanisha
Of Sanskrit origin, an Indian feminine name meaning "praise".
Name Census estimates that about 18,210 living Americans carry the first name Tanisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tanisha today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tanisha births was 1982 (758 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tanisha. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Tanisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 18,822 Americans
Peak year
1982
758 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1989 SSA rank
#5,264
Tracked since 1967
Census
Tanisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 16,310 people with the first name Tanisha, which placed it at #1,815 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
#1,815
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
16,310 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tanisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanisha is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.5%). 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 Tanisha 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 Tanisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.1% · 11,918
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 1,211
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.5% · 1,064
- White6.5% · 1,061
- Two or more races5.0% · 823
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 233
Gender
Gender distribution for Tanisha
Out of the 19,343 babies given the name Tanisha since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tanisha as a male name
- Ranked #6,162 in 1989
- 8 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (8 births)
Tanisha as a female name
- Ranked #5,264 in 2024
- 25 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (758 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,310 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tanisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tanisha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 6,825 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tanisha 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 Tanisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tanishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Tanisha, while Nevada, North Dakota, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 386 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tanisha
The name Tanisha has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "tanu," meaning "body" or "slender," and "isha," which translates to "lord" or "master." The name's roots can be traced back to the Indian subcontinent, where Sanskrit was the literary language of ancient India.
Throughout the centuries, the name Tanisha has been associated with various historical figures and religious texts. In the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics, there is a character named Tanisha who was a skilled archer and warrior. Additionally, the name is mentioned in the Puranas, ancient Hindu texts that recount the universe's creation and the stories of various deities and sages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tanisha comes from the 7th century CE, when a Hindu princess named Tanisha ruled over a small kingdom in what is now modern-day Rajasthan, India. Her reign was marked by a period of cultural and artistic renaissance, and she is remembered for her patronage of the arts and literature.
In the 12th century, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet named Tanisha Bhattacharya made significant contributions to the study of ancient Indian literature. Her work was widely celebrated and influenced generations of scholars and writers.
During the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, a female warrior named Tanisha Begum fought alongside her husband in various battles against the Rajput kingdoms. Her bravery and skill on the battlefield earned her a reputation as a fearsome warrior and a respected leader.
In more recent history, Tanisha Gupta was a prominent Indian freedom fighter who participated in the non-violent civil disobedience movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. Born in 1898, she played a crucial role in the struggle for India's independence and was imprisoned multiple times for her activism.
Another notable figure was Tanisha Mukherjee, a renowned Indian classical dancer who was born in 1920. She was instrumental in reviving and popularizing the Kathak dance form and is considered one of the greatest exponents of the art in the 20th century.
People
Tanisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tanisha 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
Tanisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tanisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tanisha 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 18,822 US residents.
Is Tanisha a common name?
We classify Tanisha as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,343 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tanisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Tanisha was 1982, when 758 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tanisha is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tanisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 16,310 people with the name Tanisha, or 5.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,815 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 Tanisha 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 Tanisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,310 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Tanisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanisha is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.5%). 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 Tanisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tanisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (11,918 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 Tanisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tanisha a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Tanisha 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 Tanisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tanisha 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 Tanisha 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 Tanisha as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.