Tawney
A feminine name of English origin meaning "tawny" or "brownish-yellow".
Name Census estimates that about 531 living Americans carry the first name Tawney. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tawney today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tawney births was 1988 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tawney. 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
531
~ 1 in 645,488 Americans
Peak year
1988
43 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2005 SSA rank
#12,900
Tracked since 1948
Census
Tawney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 576 people with the first name Tawney, which placed it at #18,647 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
#18,647
National first-name rank
People counted
576
576 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 Tawney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tawney is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.5%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Tawney 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 Tawney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.7% · 465
- Hispanic or Latino7.5% · 43
- Two or more races5.2% · 30
- Black or African American4.0% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 7
Popularity
Tawney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tawney from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 203 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
Tawney 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 Tawney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tawneys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tawney
The name Tawney is an English name with origins in the Middle English language. It is derived from the Old English word "tawny," which means "brownish-orange" or "tanned." This word was used to describe the color of leather or fur.
During the Middle Ages, the name Tawney was likely used as a descriptive nickname for someone with a tanned complexion or reddish-brown hair color. It may have also referred to someone who worked with leather or fur, such as a tanner or furrier.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tawney is found in the 14th century English poem "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer. In the tale of the "Miller's Tale," there is a character named Alisoun, who is described as having "tawny hair."
In the 16th century, the name Tawney appears in historical records as a given name. One notable example is Tawney Revell, an English merchant and explorer who lived from 1505 to 1575. He is known for his voyages to the West Indies and his involvement in the slave trade.
Another historical figure with the name Tawney is Tawney Allertoun, an English Puritan minister who lived from 1617 to 1677. He was a prominent figure in the English Civil War and was known for his fiery sermons against the Church of England.
In the 18th century, Tawney Priscilla Wakefield was an English author and educator who lived from 1751 to 1832. She wrote several books on education and was a pioneer in the field of children's literature.
In the 19th century, Tawney Edna Ferber was an American novelist and playwright who lived from 1885 to 1968. She is best known for her novels "Show Boat" and "Giant," which were both adapted into successful films.
Another notable figure with the name Tawney is Tawney Richard Henry Tawney, a British economic historian and social critic who lived from 1880 to 1962. He was a prominent figure in the Labour Party and wrote extensively on the history of economic thought and the role of religion in society.
People
Tawney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tawney 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
Tawney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tawney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 531 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tawney 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 645,488 US residents.
Is Tawney a common name?
We classify Tawney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 575 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tawney most popular?
The single biggest year for Tawney was 1988, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tawney is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tawney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 576 people with the name Tawney, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,647 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 Tawney 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 Tawney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tawney leans strongly female. 563 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 11 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Tawney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tawney is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.5%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Tawney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tawney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.7% (465 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 Tawney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tawney a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tawney 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 Tawney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tawney 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 Tawney 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 share the name Tawney?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.