Temekia
A feminine name of uncertain origin, potentially African or Native American.
Name Census estimates that about 238 living Americans carry the first name Temekia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Temekia today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Temekia births was 1979 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Temekia. 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
238
~ 1 in 1,440,144 Americans
Peak year
1979
26 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1990 SSA rank
#11,296
Tracked since 1970
Census
Temekia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 213 people with the first name Temekia, which placed it at #36,939 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
#36,939
National first-name rank
People counted
213
213 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
93.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Temekia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Temekia is Black at 93.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Temekia 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 Temekia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American93.4% · 199
- White2.3% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 5
- Two or more races1.9% · 4
Popularity
Temekia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Temekia from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 152 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
Temekia 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 Temekia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Temekias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Temekia, while North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Temekia
The name Temekia is believed to have its origins in the Native American Algonquian languages, which were spoken by various tribes across North America. It likely derives from the word "temeki," which means "gift" or "offering" in these languages. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 17th century, when European settlers first encountered and documented the indigenous cultures of the region.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Temekia was a member of the Wampanoag tribe in present-day Massachusetts. She lived during the late 16th and early 17th centuries and is mentioned in colonial records as having played a role in facilitating peaceful interactions between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620.
In the 18th century, a woman named Temekia was recorded as a member of the Lenape tribe, which occupied parts of what is now Delaware, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. She is noted in historical accounts for her skills as a healer and herbalist, utilizing traditional plant-based remedies to treat various ailments.
During the 19th century, the name Temekia gained some prominence among African American communities, particularly in the southern United States. One notable figure was Temekia Jackson, born in 1832 in South Carolina, who became a renowned educator and advocate for the education of formerly enslaved people after the Civil War.
Another historical figure bearing the name was Temekia Whitefeather, a Cherokee woman born in 1875 in Oklahoma. She was a respected artist and pottery maker, known for her intricate and vibrant designs that drew inspiration from traditional Cherokee patterns and motifs.
In the early 20th century, Temekia Longfellow, born in 1901 in New Mexico, gained recognition as a talented writer and storyteller. Her works focused on preserving and sharing the rich oral traditions and folklore of the Navajo people, with whom she had close cultural ties.
While the name Temekia has its roots in Native American cultures, it has transcended its original linguistic and geographic boundaries, becoming a unique and distinct name used across various communities and regions throughout history.
People
Temekia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Temekia 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
Temekia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Temekia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 238 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Temekia 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 1,440,144 US residents.
Is Temekia a common name?
We classify Temekia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 259 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Temekia most popular?
The single biggest year for Temekia was 1979, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Temekia is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Temekia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 213 people with the name Temekia, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,939 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 Temekia 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 Temekia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Temekia appears almost entirely female. Of the 208 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Temekia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Temekia is Black at 93.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Temekia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Temekia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.4% (199 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 Temekia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Temekia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Temekia 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 Temekia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Temekia 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 Temekia 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 Temekia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.