Tanzania
A modern feminine name of Bantu origin meaning "journey" or "to venture forth."
Name Census estimates that about 633 living Americans carry the first name Tanzania. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tanzania today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tanzania births was 1992 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tanzania. 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
633
~ 1 in 541,476 Americans
Peak year
1992
38 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2008 SSA rank
#20,170
Tracked since 1968
Census
Tanzania in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 539 people with the first name Tanzania, which placed it at #19,554 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
#19,554
National first-name rank
People counted
539
539 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tanzania
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanzania is Black at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Tanzania 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 Tanzania at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.6% · 483
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 25
- Two or more races2.6% · 14
- White2.4% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Tanzania: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tanzania from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 282 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Tanzania remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tanzania 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 Tanzania during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tanzanias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Tanzania, while Georgia, Florida, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tanzania
The given name Tanzania is a relatively modern name, originating from the region of East Africa. It is derived from the name of the sovereign state of Tanzania, which itself is a combination of the names of the two regions that united to form the country in 1964: Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
Tanganyika was the name given to the territory by German East Africa, and it is believed to be derived from the Swahili phrase "sail in the wilderness," referring to the vast inland sea of Lake Tanganyika. Zanzibar, on the other hand, is derived from the Persian words "zangi" meaning black and "bar" meaning coast, referring to the island's location off the coast of East Africa.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tanzania as a given name is believed to be in the late 1960s or early 1970s, shortly after the formation of the nation. It was likely adopted by parents in East Africa as a way to celebrate their national identity and the unification of the two regions.
While there are no definitive historical records of the name Tanzania being used prior to the formation of the modern nation, some scholars have suggested that it may have been used as a descriptive term for the region in ancient times, referring to the combination of the coastal and inland areas.
In terms of notable individuals with the name Tanzania, here are a few examples:
1. Tanzania Yvonne Munga (born 1985) is a Kenyan actress and model.
2. Tanzania Mara (born 1978) is an American adult film actress and director.
3. Tanzania Zambia (born 1992) is a Zambian professional footballer who plays as a defender.
4. Tanzania Banana (born 1987) is an American professional wrestler, best known for her time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
5. Tanzania Jester (born 1973) is an American comedian and actor, known for his work in the sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U' Know.
It is important to note that while the name Tanzania has gained some popularity in recent decades, it is still relatively uncommon and primarily used in East Africa and among individuals with ties to the region or its culture.
People
Tanzania + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tanzania 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
Tanzania: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tanzania?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 633 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tanzania 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 541,476 US residents.
Is Tanzania a common name?
We classify Tanzania as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 667 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tanzania most popular?
The single biggest year for Tanzania was 1992, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tanzania 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 Tanzania in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 539 people with the name Tanzania, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,554 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 Tanzania 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 Tanzania?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanzania appears almost entirely female. Of the 538 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Tanzania?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanzania is Black at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Tanzania most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tanzania in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (483 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 Tanzania in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tanzania a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tanzania 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 Tanzania still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tanzania 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 Tanzania 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 share the name Tanzania?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.