Tashi
An unisex name of Tibetan origin meaning "good fortune" or "auspicious".
Name Census estimates that about 596 living Americans carry the first name Tashi. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Tashi today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tashi births was 1988 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tashi. 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 Tashi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
596
~ 1 in 575,091 Americans
Peak year
1988
30 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,162
Tracked since 1966
Census
Tashi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,479 people with the first name Tashi, which placed it at #9,395 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
#9,395
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,479 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
66.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tashi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tashi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.0%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Tashi 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 Tashi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander66.3% · 980
- Black or African American20.0% · 296
- Two or more races5.5% · 82
- White5.5% · 81
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Tashi
Tashi is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 615 total registrations, 133 (21.6%) were male and 482 (78.4%) were female.
Tashi as a male name
- Ranked #13,966 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (12 births)
Tashi as a female name
- Ranked #10,162 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1988 (30 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tashi on both sides of the split. Of the 1,476 people counted with this name, 629 were male (42.6%) and 847 were female (57.4%).
Popularity
Tashi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tashi from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 144 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tashi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tashi 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 Tashi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tashis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tashi
Tashi is a name of Tibetan origin, derived from the word "tashi," which means "auspicious" or "fortunate" in the Tibetan language. The name has been in use for centuries, particularly among the Tibetan Buddhist community.
The earliest recorded mention of the name Tashi can be found in ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts and manuscripts, where it was often used as a monastic name or a spiritual title. In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the name Tashi is associated with luck, prosperity, and well-being.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Tashi was Tashi Tsering (1557-1650), a renowned Tibetan scholar and spiritual leader. He was a prominent figure in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and played a significant role in the spread of Buddhism in the region.
Another notable figure in history was Tashi Rabten (1682-1756), a Tibetan Buddhist master and writer. He authored several influential texts on Buddhist philosophy and practice, and his works were widely studied and revered in the Himalayan regions.
In the 19th century, Tashi Lama (1820-1899) was a prominent Tibetan Buddhist leader and the founder of the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, one of the largest monasteries in Tibet. He was highly respected for his spiritual teachings and his efforts in preserving Tibetan culture and traditions.
Tashi Tsering Phunkhang (1867-1917) was a Tibetan political figure and diplomat who played a crucial role in the negotiations between Tibet and the British Empire during the early 20th century. He is remembered for his efforts in maintaining Tibet's autonomy and safeguarding its interests.
Tashi Khedrup (1892-1944) was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher and scholar who made significant contributions to the preservation and study of Tibetan Buddhist literature. He was known for his expertise in Tibetan grammar, poetry, and Buddhist philosophy.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Tashi, reflecting the name's deep roots in Tibetan culture and its association with auspiciousness and spiritual significance.
People
Tashi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tashi 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
Tashi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tashi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 596 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tashi 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 575,091 US residents.
Is Tashi a common name?
We classify Tashi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 615 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tashi most popular?
The single biggest year for Tashi was 1988, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tashi is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tashi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,479 people with the name Tashi, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,395 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 Tashi 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 Tashi?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tashi on both sides of the split. Of the 1,476 people counted with this name, 629 were male (42.6%) and 847 were female (57.4%). 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 Tashi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tashi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.0%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Tashi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tashi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.3% (980 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 Tashi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tashi a female name?
Yes, 78.4% of people registered as Tashi 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 Tashi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tashi 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 Tashi 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 common is the name Tashi?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Tashi at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.