Tarita
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "descended, cherished".
Name Census estimates that about 317 living Americans carry the first name Tarita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tarita today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tarita births was 1963 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tarita. 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
317
~ 1 in 1,081,244 Americans
Peak year
1963
31 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1989 SSA rank
#14,337
Tracked since 1961
Census
Tarita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 331 people with the first name Tarita, which placed it at #27,567 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
#27,567
National first-name rank
People counted
331
331 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tarita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tarita is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are White (12.7%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Tarita 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 Tarita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.0% · 235
- White12.7% · 42
- Two or more races6.6% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 5
Popularity
Tarita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tarita from the 1960s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 167 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Tarita remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tarita 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 Tarita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taritas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Illinois, Michigan, New York recorded the most babies named Tarita, while New York, Michigan, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tarita
The name Tarita has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was the root of many modern Indian languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "tarita," which means "crossed" or "traversed." This name likely originated in ancient India, where Sanskrit was the dominant language of religious and scholarly texts.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tarita can be found in the Mahabharata, a famous Hindu epic poem dating back to around the 8th century BCE. In the text, Tarita is mentioned as the name of a river, which adds to the idea that the name is connected to the concept of crossing or traversing.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Tarita. In the 6th century CE, Tarita was the name of a Buddhist scholar and commentator on the works of the philosopher Nagarjuna. This Tarita is believed to have lived and worked in the region of present-day Bihar, India.
Another prominent figure with the name Tarita was a 12th-century Hindu mathematician and astronomer from the Chalukya dynasty in southern India. This Tarita was known for his contributions to the field of astronomy and his work on the calculation of planetary positions.
In the 15th century, there was a Tarita who was a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet from the Vijayanagar Empire in southern India. She is credited with writing several works of poetry and commentary on ancient Hindu texts.
Moving forward in time, Tarita was also the name of a 19th-century Indian freedom fighter from the state of Maharashtra. She was involved in the struggle against British colonial rule and played a role in the Indian independence movement.
Additionally, in the 20th century, there was a Tarita who was a well-known Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She was instrumental in preserving and promoting the traditional dance forms of India and received numerous accolades for her contributions to the arts.
People
Tarita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tarita 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
Tarita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tarita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 317 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tarita 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 1,081,244 US residents.
Is Tarita a common name?
We classify Tarita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 364 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tarita most popular?
The single biggest year for Tarita was 1963, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tarita is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tarita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 331 people with the name Tarita, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,567 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 Tarita 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 Tarita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tarita appears almost entirely female. Of the 337 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Tarita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tarita is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are White (12.7%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Tarita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tarita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (235 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 Tarita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tarita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tarita 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 Tarita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tarita 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 Tarita 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 Tarita as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Tarita on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.