Teancum
A Native American masculine name meaning "wilderness" or "a solitary man".
Name Census estimates that about 222 living Americans carry the first name Teancum. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Teancum today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Teancum births was 2004 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Teancum. 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
222
~ 1 in 1,543,938 Americans
Peak year
2004
17 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,149
Tracked since 1996
Census
Teancum in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 212 people with the first name Teancum, which placed it at #37,053 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
#37,053
National first-name rank
People counted
212
212 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Teancum
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teancum is White at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Two or More Races (11.3%). 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 Teancum 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 Teancum at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.0% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 27
- Two or more races11.3% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.0% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 3
- Black or African American0.5% · 1
Popularity
Teancum: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Teancum 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 95 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Teancum 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 Teancum during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Teancums live
Origin
Meaning and history of Teancum
The name Teancum has its origins in the ancient Native American language of the Mississippian culture, which flourished in what is now the central and eastern United States between 800 and 1600 CE. It is derived from the words "tean," meaning "sacred" or "divine," and "cum," meaning "path" or "way." The name can be roughly translated as "sacred path" or "divine way."
Teancum is primarily associated with the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter-day Saint movement. In this text, Teancum is mentioned as a Nephite military leader and chief captain who lived in the 1st century BCE. He is depicted as a courageous and skilled warrior who played a crucial role in defending the Nephites against their enemies, the Lamanites.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Teancum was a Native American chief who lived in the late 18th century. He was a leader of the Choctaw tribe and was known for his diplomacy and efforts to maintain peace between his people and the European settlers.
Another notable figure with the name Teancum was a Cherokee leader who lived in the early 19th century. He was a influential figure in the Cherokee Nation and played a significant role in the negotiations leading up to the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of the Cherokee people from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States.
In more recent history, Teancum Stafford (1901-1981) was a respected Navajo artist and silversmith known for his intricate jewelry designs and his contributions to preserving traditional Navajo art forms.
Teancum Bert Aguilar (1913-1997) was a prominent Yaqui artist and educator. He was known for his vibrant paintings depicting the culture and traditions of the Yaqui people, and he played a significant role in promoting Native American art education.
Teancum Foxworth (born 1983) is a former American football player who played as a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for several teams, including the Detroit Lions and the Denver Broncos.
People
Teancum + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Teancum 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
Teancum: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Teancum?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 222 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Teancum 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 1,543,938 US residents.
Is Teancum a common name?
We classify Teancum as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Teancum most popular?
The single biggest year for Teancum was 2004, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Teancum is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Teancum in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 212 people with the name Teancum, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,053 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 Teancum 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 Teancum?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Teancum appears almost entirely male. Of the 211 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Teancum?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teancum is White at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Two or More Races (11.3%). 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 Teancum most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Teancum in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.0% (140 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 Teancum in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Teancum a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Teancum 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 Teancum still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Teancum 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 Teancum 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 are called Teancum?
Find out how many Americans are named Teancum on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.