Tempe
Of uncertain origin, potentially referring to a temple or place of worship.
Name Census estimates that about 33 living Americans carry the first name Tempe. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tempe today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tempe births was 1961 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tempe. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tempe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
33
~ 1 in 10,386,495 Americans
Peak year
1961
8 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1979 SSA rank
#11,812
Tracked since 1941
Census
Tempe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 204 people with the first name Tempe, which placed it at #37,948 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
#37,948
National first-name rank
People counted
204
204 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tempe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tempe is White at 80.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Tempe 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 Tempe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.9% · 165
- Black or African American6.9% · 14
- Two or more races5.4% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 2
Popularity
Tempe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tempe from the 1940s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 19 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Tempe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tempe 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 Tempe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tempe
The name Tempe is believed to have originated from the ancient Greek word "tempos", which means "sacred vale" or "consecrated valley". It is likely derived from the name of the Vale of Tempe, a gorge in northern Thessaly, Greece, that was renowned for its beauty and fertility.
In Greek mythology, the Vale of Tempe was associated with the cult of Apollo and the Muses, and was considered a sacred place. The gorge was also mentioned in Homer's Iliad as a place of great natural beauty and serenity.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tempe dates back to ancient Greece, where it was given to both males and females. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Tempe, a priestess of Apollo in the 5th century BC, who was renowned for her devotion to the god and her wisdom.
Throughout history, the name Tempe has been borne by several notable figures, including Tempe Duval (1913-2007), an American actress and dancer who performed on Broadway and in Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. Tempe Longworth (1904-1996) was an American philanthropist and socialite, known for her support of the arts and her involvement in various charitable organizations.
In the literary world, Tempe Innes (1872-1944) was a Scottish author and journalist who wrote several novels and short stories. Tempe Tepper (1916-2003) was an American physicist who made significant contributions to the field of nuclear physics and worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.
Another notable bearer of the name was Tempe Adair (1823-1894), an American abolitionist and women's rights activist who played a significant role in the Underground Railroad, helping to free enslaved people and providing them with safe passage to the northern states.
While the name Tempe is not as common today as it once was, it continues to be used as a given name, particularly in the United States and Greece, where it retains its connection to the ancient Greek heritage and mythology.
People
Tempe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tempe 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
Tempe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tempe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tempe 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 10,386,495 US residents.
Is Tempe a common name?
We classify Tempe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 44 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tempe most popular?
The single biggest year for Tempe was 1961, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tempe is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tempe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 204 people with the name Tempe, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,948 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 Tempe 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 Tempe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tempe leans strongly female. 193 people counted with this name were female (96.0%), compared with 8 male bearers (4.0%). 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 Tempe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tempe is White at 80.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Tempe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tempe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.9% (165 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 Tempe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tempe a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tempe 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 Tempe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tempe 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 Tempe 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 Tempe?
Want to know how many people share the name Tempe? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.