Tarryn
Variant spelling of the South African name Terryn meaning "little grace".
Name Census estimates that about 776 living Americans carry the first name Tarryn. It is a predominantly female name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Tarryn today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tarryn births was 1989 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tarryn. 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 Tarryn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
776
~ 1 in 441,694 Americans
Peak year
1989
35 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,908
Tracked since 1965
Census
Tarryn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 883 people with the first name Tarryn, which placed it at #13,613 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
#13,613
National first-name rank
People counted
883
883 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tarryn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tarryn is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Tarryn 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 Tarryn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.2% · 558
- Black or African American18.2% · 161
- Two or more races10.2% · 90
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Tarryn
Tarryn leans heavily female at 98.1% of total registrations, but 15 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tarryn as a male name
- Ranked #13,908 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1997 (5 births)
Tarryn as a female name
- Ranked #15,066 in 2021
- 6 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1989 (35 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tarryn leans strongly female. 816 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 58 male bearers (6.6%).
Popularity
Tarryn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tarryn from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 277 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
Tarryn 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 Tarryn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tarryns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tarryn
The name Tarryn is believed to have originated from the Celtic language group, specifically from the Welsh and Irish Gaelic traditions. The earliest recorded references to the name date back to the 6th century AD, during the time of the ancient Celtic tribes inhabiting the British Isles.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Tarryn was a Welsh prince who lived in the late 6th century. His name was Tarryn ap Cyngen, and he was a member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Powys, a Welsh principality located in present-day eastern Wales.
In Irish Gaelic tradition, the name Tarryn is thought to be derived from the word "tárr," which means "to cross" or "to journey." This could suggest that the name was initially given to individuals who traveled or migrated from one place to another.
Another notable figure with the name Tarryn was a 9th-century Irish monk and scholar known as Tarryn of Armagh. He was a prominent figure in the Irish monastic tradition and is credited with preserving many ancient texts and manuscripts during the Viking raids on Ireland.
During the Middle Ages, the name Tarryn appeared in various historical records and manuscripts, particularly in Wales and Ireland. One such example is Tarryn ap Rhys, a Welsh nobleman who lived in the 13th century and fought alongside the famous Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd during the Welsh wars against the English.
In the 16th century, there was a Scottish nobleman named Tarryn Campbell, who served as a courtier to King James VI of Scotland. He was known for his diplomatic skills and played a significant role in the negotiations leading to the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Another notable figure with the name Tarryn was an Irish poet and bard from the 17th century known as Tarryn Ó Dálaigh. He was renowned for his intricate and beautiful poetic works, which celebrated the Irish language and culture during a time of English colonization.
While the name Tarryn has its roots in Celtic cultures, it has also been used in other parts of the world, particularly in modern times. However, the historical significance and earliest recorded examples of the name can be traced back to the ancient Celtic traditions of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.
People
Tarryn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tarryn 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
Tarryn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tarryn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 776 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tarryn 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 441,694 US residents.
Is Tarryn a common name?
We classify Tarryn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 800 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tarryn most popular?
The single biggest year for Tarryn was 1989, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tarryn is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tarryn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 883 people with the name Tarryn, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,613 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 Tarryn 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 Tarryn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tarryn leans strongly female. 816 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 58 male bearers (6.6%). 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 Tarryn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tarryn is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Tarryn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tarryn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (558 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 Tarryn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tarryn a female name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Tarryn 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 Tarryn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tarryn 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 Tarryn 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 Tarryn?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.