Tatem
Variant spelling of the English name meaning "to repair", derived from the Middle English "taten".
Name Census estimates that about 639 living Americans carry the first name Tatem. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Tatem today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tatem births was 2006 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tatem. 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
639
~ 1 in 536,392 Americans
Peak year
2006
42 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,009
Tracked since 1997
Census
Tatem in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 600 people with the first name Tatem, which placed it at #18,079 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
#18,079
National first-name rank
People counted
600
600 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tatem
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tatem is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Tatem 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 Tatem at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.7% · 484
- Two or more races7.0% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 34
- Black or African American4.3% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Tatem
Tatem is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 646 total registrations, 293 (45.4%) were male and 353 (54.6%) were female.
Tatem as a male name
- Ranked #12,146 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (22 births)
Tatem as a female name
- Ranked #12,009 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (30 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tatem on both sides of the split. Of the 608 people counted with this name, 266 were male (43.8%) and 342 were female (56.3%).
Popularity
Tatem: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tatem from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 277 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Tatem remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tatem 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 Tatem during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tatems live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tatem
The name Tatem is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with roots tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain. It is thought to be a variation or diminutive form of the name Tate, which itself derives from the Old English word "tāta," meaning "cheerful" or "joyful."
One of the earliest known references to the name Tatem can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and valuations compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears in various spellings, such as Tatum and Tatham, suggesting its use as a surname or locational name in medieval England.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Tatem de Brayton was recorded as a landowner in the village of Brayton, Yorkshire. This historical record provides evidence of the name's usage during the Middle Ages.
The name Tatem gained further recognition in the 16th century when Sir Tatem Cremer (1505-1568) served as a prominent merchant and alderman in the City of London. His legacy as a successful businessman and philanthropist helped establish the name's association with prosperity and respect.
Another individual of note was Tatem Wilkinson (1737-1803), an English Quaker minister and author who travelled extensively throughout Britain and the American colonies, spreading his religious teachings and writings. His influence contributed to the name's association with spirituality and intellectual pursuits.
In the 19th century, Tatem Smith (1821-1892) was a renowned American artist and lithographer, known for his detailed landscape paintings and depictions of rural life in New England. His artistic achievements brought further recognition to the name Tatem.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Tatem throughout history, demonstrating its enduring presence and diverse associations across various fields and eras.
People
Tatem + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tatem 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
Tatem: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tatem?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 639 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tatem 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 536,392 US residents.
Is Tatem a common name?
We classify Tatem as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 646 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tatem most popular?
The single biggest year for Tatem was 2006, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tatem is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tatem in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 600 people with the name Tatem, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,079 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 Tatem 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 Tatem?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tatem on both sides of the split. Of the 608 people counted with this name, 266 were male (43.8%) and 342 were female (56.3%). 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 Tatem?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tatem is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Tatem most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tatem in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.7% (484 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 Tatem in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tatem a female name?
Yes, 54.6% of people registered as Tatem 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 Tatem still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tatem 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 Tatem 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 Tatem?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Tatem at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.