Tanner
One who tans leather or has an occupation related to tanning.
Name Census estimates that about 97,628 living Americans carry the first name Tanner. It sits at #443 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Tanner today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tanner births was 1998 (4,827 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tanner. 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 Tanner with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tanner is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,498 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
98K
~ 1 in 3,511 Americans
Peak year
1998
4,827 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#443
Tracked since 1913
Census
Tanner in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 86,958 people with the first name Tanner, which placed it at #609 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
#609
National first-name rank
People counted
87K
86,958 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
28.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tanner
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanner is White at 89.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Tanner 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 Tanner at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.8% · 78,101
- Two or more races3.9% · 3,363
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 3,049
- Black or African American1.1% · 992
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 806
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 647
Gender
Gender distribution for Tanner
Tanner leans heavily male at 97.5% of total registrations, but 2,498 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tanner as a male name
- Ranked #443 in 2024
- 711 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (4,704 births)
Tanner as a female name
- Ranked #3,158 in 2024
- 51 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (123 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanner leans strongly male. 84,865 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 2,094 female bearers (2.4%).
Popularity
Tanner: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tanner from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 38,271 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tanner 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 Tanner during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tanners live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Tanner, while Rhode Island, Delaware, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,930 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tanner
The given name Tanner has its origins in the English language and is derived from the occupational surname "tanner," which refers to a person who tanned hides and skins for a living. The name can be traced back to the Middle English word "tannere," which in turn comes from the Old French word "taneor," meaning "one who tans hides."
The tanning profession has a long and rich history, dating back to ancient civilizations where animal hides were used for clothing, shelter, and various other purposes. The process of tanning, which involves treating skins to prevent them from decomposing, was an essential skill that allowed for the preservation and utilization of these valuable materials.
While the name Tanner does not have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is closely linked to the development of the leather industry, which played a significant role in the economic and cultural life of many societies throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Tanner can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of land and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The book mentions several individuals with the surname "Tannere" or "Tannur," indicating that the occupation of tanning was well-established in England at that time.
Over the centuries, various notable individuals have borne the first name Tanner, contributing to its enduring legacy. Here are five examples:
1. Tanner Houck (born 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball.
2. Tanner Foust (born 1973) is an American professional racing driver and television host, known for his appearances on various motorsports shows and his successful rallycross career.
3. Tanner Pearson (born 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks in the National Hockey League.
4. Tanner Muse (born 1997) is an American football safety who was drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2020 NFL Draft.
5. Tanner Eberle (born 1992) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer, best known for his work in the pop and electronic music genres.
These individuals, spanning various fields and eras, have helped to shape and perpetuate the legacy of the given name Tanner, ensuring its continued relevance and recognition across diverse cultural landscapes.
People
Tanner + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tanner 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
Tanner: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tanner?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 97,628 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tanner 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 3,511 US residents.
Is Tanner a common name?
We classify Tanner as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 99,478 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tanner most popular?
The single biggest year for Tanner was 1998, when 4,827 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tanner is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tanner in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 86,958 people with the name Tanner, or 28.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #609 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 Tanner 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 Tanner?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanner leans strongly male. 84,865 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 2,094 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Tanner?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanner is White at 89.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Tanner most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tanner in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.8% (78,101 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 Tanner in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tanner a male name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Tanner in the SSA data are male. 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 Tanner still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tanner 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 Tanner 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 are called Tanner?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.