Tavares
A masculine name of Portuguese origin meaning "one from Tavares".
Name Census estimates that about 2,871 living Americans carry the first name Tavares. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Tavares today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tavares births was 1976 (173 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tavares. 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
2.9K
~ 1 in 119,385 Americans
Peak year
1976
173 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,124
Tracked since 1974
Census
Tavares in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,984 people with the first name Tavares, which placed it at #7,622 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
#7,622
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,984 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tavares
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tavares is Black at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.8%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Tavares 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 Tavares at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.0% · 1,825
- Two or more races3.8% · 75
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 56
- White1.1% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Tavares
Out of the 2,989 babies given the name Tavares since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Tavares as a male name
- Ranked #6,124 in 2024
- 15 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (170 births)
Tavares as a female name
- Ranked #10,743 in 1976
- 5 female births in 1976
- Peak: 1975 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tavares leans strongly male. 1,954 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 29 female bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Tavares: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tavares from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 888 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tavares 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 Tavares during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tavares' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Tavares, while Indiana, Arkansas, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 112 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tavares
The name Tavares has its origins in the Iberian Peninsula, originating from the Portuguese and Spanish languages. It is derived from the Latin word "tavarius," which means "tavern keeper" or "innkeeper." This suggests that the name may have initially been an occupational surname for those who worked in taverns or inns.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Tavares can be traced back to medieval Portugal and Spain, where it was commonly used as a surname. However, over time, it also gained popularity as a given name, particularly in Portuguese-speaking regions.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Tavares was Tomás Tavares, a Portuguese explorer and navigator who lived in the 15th century. He is known for his contributions to the Age of Discovery and his expeditions along the western coast of Africa.
In the 16th century, Tavares de Sousa was a prominent Portuguese nobleman and military commander who played a significant role in the Portuguese conquest of India. He served as the Governor of Portuguese India from 1542 to 1545.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Tavares Bastos was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and writer who advocated for the abolition of slavery and the development of the Brazilian Amazon region. He lived from 1839 to 1875.
In the realm of literature, Tavares Rodrigues was a renowned 20th-century Portuguese poet and writer. Born in 1892, he is celebrated for his contributions to the modernist movement in Portuguese literature.
More recently, Tavares Strachan is a contemporary Bahamian artist known for his conceptual and multi-disciplinary works. Born in 1979, he has exhibited his art globally and has received numerous awards and accolades for his innovative approach.
While the name Tavares has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula, it has since spread to various parts of the world, particularly in countries with significant Portuguese and Spanish cultural influences. The name continues to be popular, carrying with it a rich historical legacy and cultural significance.
People
Tavares + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tavares 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
Tavares: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tavares?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,871 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tavares 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 119,385 US residents.
Is Tavares a common name?
We classify Tavares as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,989 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tavares most popular?
The single biggest year for Tavares was 1976, when 173 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tavares is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tavares in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,984 people with the name Tavares, or 0.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,622 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 Tavares 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 Tavares?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tavares leans strongly male. 1,954 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 29 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Tavares?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tavares is Black at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.8%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Tavares most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tavares in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.0% (1,825 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 Tavares in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tavares a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Tavares in the SSA data are male. 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 Tavares still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tavares 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 Tavares 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 the name Tavares?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.