Tannia
A feminine given name of Latin origin meaning "young and lovely".
Name Census estimates that about 371 living Americans carry the first name Tannia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tannia today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tannia births was 1993 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tannia. 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
371
~ 1 in 923,866 Americans
Peak year
1993
20 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2015 SSA rank
#16,232
Tracked since 1961
Census
Tannia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 586 people with the first name Tannia, which placed it at #18,401 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
#18,401
National first-name rank
People counted
586
586 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
74.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tannia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tannia is Hispanic at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and White (9.4%). 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 Tannia 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 Tannia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino74.7% · 438
- Black or African American12.3% · 72
- White9.4% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 6
- Two or more races0.5% · 3
Popularity
Tannia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tannia from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 118 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
Tannia 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 Tannia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tannias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tannia
The given name Tannia is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "tamas," which means darkness or obscurity. The name may have been given to individuals born during the night or in a time of darkness.
In ancient Indian texts, such as the Vedas and the Puranas, there are references to deities and characters with names similar to Tannia, suggesting that the name may have held spiritual or mythological significance in ancient Indian culture. However, there are no specific references to the name Tannia itself in these texts.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Tannia can be traced back to the medieval period in India. One notable figure from this era was Tannia Bhatt, a renowned scholar and philosopher who lived in the 12th century CE. Bhatt made significant contributions to the field of logic and epistemology, and his works were widely studied and debated by scholars of his time.
Another historically significant individual with the name Tannia was Tannia Devi, a 16th-century Indian ruler and warrior queen of the Gond Kingdom in central India. Devi is remembered for her bravery and military prowess, as she led her army in several successful battles against neighboring kingdoms.
In the 19th century, Tannia Ramakrishna Pillai was a prominent Indian social reformer and educator. Pillai played a crucial role in the establishment of modern education systems in southern India and advocated for the education of women and lower castes.
Moving to more recent times, Tannia Mukherjee was an Indian artist and painter who lived from 1901 to 1986. Mukherjee's works were heavily influenced by the Bengal Renaissance movement and focused on themes of rural life and traditional Indian culture.
Finally, Tannia Sanghera is a contemporary Indian-Canadian author and journalist who has written extensively on issues related to women's rights, feminism, and cultural identity. Her books, such as "Courting Desire" and "The Sikhety File," have received critical acclaim and sparked important conversations about South Asian diaspora experiences.
While the name Tannia is not as common as some other Indian names, it has a rich history and has been borne by individuals who have made significant contributions to various fields throughout the centuries.
People
Tannia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tannia 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
Tannia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tannia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 371 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tannia 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 923,866 US residents.
Is Tannia a common name?
We classify Tannia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 392 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tannia most popular?
The single biggest year for Tannia was 1993, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tannia is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tannia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 586 people with the name Tannia, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,401 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 Tannia 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 Tannia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tannia appears almost entirely female. Of the 587 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Tannia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tannia is Hispanic at 74.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and White (9.4%). 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 Tannia most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Tannia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.7% (438 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 Tannia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tannia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tannia 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 Tannia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tannia 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 Tannia 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 Americans are named Tannia?
See how many people share the name Tannia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.