Tawni
A feminine name of English origin meaning "small settler".
Name Census estimates that about 1,728 living Americans carry the first name Tawni. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tawni today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tawni births was 1989 (105 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tawni. 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 198,353 Americans
Peak year
1989
105 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2011 SSA rank
#19,327
Tracked since 1950
Popularity
Tawni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tawni from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 567 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tawni 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 Tawni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tawnis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Utah, Washington recorded the most babies named Tawni, while Montana, Indiana, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tawni
The given name Tawni is a modern variation of the name Tawny, which is derived from the Middle English word "taun" or "tawny," meaning a brownish-yellow or light brown color. The name likely originated in England in the late medieval period, around the 14th or 15th century.
The name Tawny was initially used as a descriptive term to refer to someone with tawny-colored hair or complexion. Over time, it transitioned into a personal name, particularly popular as a feminine given name in English-speaking countries.
While the name Tawny does not have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been recorded as a personal name in various historical records and documents from the 16th century onwards.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Tawny can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Warwick, England, where a woman named Tawny Wilcox was listed in 1592.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Tawny or its variant spellings. Here are five examples:
1. Tawni O'Dell (born 1959), an American novelist and playwright, best known for her novel "Back Roads."
2. Tawny Piggott (1884-1976), a British aviator and one of the first female pilots in the world.
3. Tawny Kitaen (1961-2021), an American actress and model, best known for her appearances in rock music videos in the 1980s.
4. Tawny Cypress (born 1976), an American actress known for her roles in television series like "Heroes" and "Unforgettable."
5. Tawny Little (born 1989), an American model and actress who has appeared in various films and television shows.
While the name Tawny and its variant spellings like Tawni have been used throughout history, it gained particular popularity in the late 20th century, especially in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.
People
Tawni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tawni 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
Tawni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tawni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,728 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tawni 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 198,353 US residents.
Is Tawni a common name?
We classify Tawni as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,876 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tawni most popular?
The single biggest year for Tawni was 1989, when 105 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tawni is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tawni a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tawni 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.
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.