Tarana
A feminine name of Hindi origin meaning "melody", "rhythm", or "song".
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Tarana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tarana today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tarana births was 1976 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tarana. 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 Tarana with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tarana. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
1976
9 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
1978 SSA rank
#11,295
Tracked since 1975
Census
Tarana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 257 people with the first name Tarana, which placed it at #32,623 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
#32,623
National first-name rank
People counted
257
257 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
54.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tarana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tarana is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.5%. The next largest groups are White (19.5%) and Black (18.3%). 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 Tarana 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 Tarana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander54.5% · 140
- White19.5% · 50
- Black or African American18.3% · 47
- Two or more races7.0% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 2
Popularity
Tarana: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Tarana 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 Tarana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0 | 31 | 31 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Tarana
The name Tarana has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was the root of many modern Indian languages. The word "tarana" in Sanskrit means "wave" or "rhythm," suggesting a connection to music, dance, or the natural world.
In Hindu mythology, Tarana is one of the names of the goddess Saraswati, who is associated with knowledge, music, arts, and wisdom. The name may have been derived from this association, reflecting the rhythmic nature of the arts and the flowing of knowledge like waves.
The earliest known historical references to the name Tarana can be traced back to ancient Indian texts and inscriptions from the 5th century CE. During this time, it was used as a personal name for both men and women, although it was more commonly given to women.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tarana was a 7th-century Sanskrit poet and scholar from the Indian subcontinent. Her works, though few in number, were celebrated for their poetic mastery and insights into various subjects.
In the 12th century, a female musician and dancer named Tarana rose to prominence in the court of the Chola Empire in South India. She was renowned for her skills in classical Indian dance forms and her contributions to the art of music and dance.
During the Mughal era in India, which spanned from the 16th to the 19th century, a notable figure named Tarana Begum was a skilled calligrapher and painter. Her intricate calligraphic works and miniature paintings were highly prized by the Mughal rulers and nobility.
In the 18th century, Tarana Devi was a prominent author and poet from the region of Awadh (now part of Uttar Pradesh, India). Her poetry, written in the Braj Bhasha language, explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human experience.
Another historical figure with the name Tarana was a 19th-century Indian freedom fighter and social activist from the state of Bengal. She played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and worked towards the upliftment of women's education and rights.
People
Tarana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tarana 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
Tarana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tarana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tarana 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Tarana a common name?
We classify Tarana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 31 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tarana most popular?
The single biggest year for Tarana was 1976, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tarana is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tarana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 257 people with the name Tarana, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,623 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 Tarana 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 Tarana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tarana leans strongly female. 244 people counted with this name were female (96.1%), compared with 10 male bearers (3.9%). 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 Tarana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tarana is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.5%. The next largest groups are White (19.5%) and Black (18.3%). 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 Tarana most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tarana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.5% (140 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 Tarana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tarana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tarana 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 Tarana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tarana 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 Tarana 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 Tarana?
You can see how many people share the name Tarana on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.