Tenee
A feminine name of Native American origin meaning "little soul".
Name Census estimates that about 86 living Americans carry the first name Tenee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tenee today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tenee births was 1993 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tenee. 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 Tenee. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
86
~ 1 in 3,985,516 Americans
Peak year
1993
12 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1994 SSA rank
#11,679
Tracked since 1977
Census
Tenee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 146 people with the first name Tenee, which placed it at #46,062 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
#46,062
National first-name rank
People counted
146
146 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tenee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tenee is Black at 63.0%. The next largest groups are White (24.0%) and Hispanic (7.5%). 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 Tenee 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 Tenee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.0% · 92
- White24.0% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino7.5% · 11
- Two or more races4.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
Popularity
Tenee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tenee from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 49 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Tenee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tenee 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 Tenee 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 Tenee
The name Tenee is believed to have originated from the Quechua language, which is spoken by indigenous people in the Andean regions of South America, particularly in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and parts of Colombia, Chile, and Argentina. The Quechua language dates back to the Inca Empire, which flourished between the 13th and 16th centuries.
Tenee is derived from the Quechua word "teni," which means "to possess" or "to have." This suggests that the name may have been associated with ownership, possession, or control in the Quechua culture. It is possible that the name was given to individuals who were seen as possessing certain qualities or attributes.
While the name Tenee does not appear to have been recorded in any ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that it was used among the Quechua people during the time of the Inca Empire. However, written records from that era are limited, making it difficult to trace the earliest recorded instances of the name.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Tenee was Tenee Atcitty, a Navajo artist born in 1940 in Arizona, United States. Atcitty was known for her intricate and colorful weavings, which were influenced by traditional Navajo designs and her personal experiences. She received numerous awards and honors for her work, including the Governor's Award for Outstanding Master Folk Artist in 1990.
Another notable figure with the name Tenee was Tenee Hart, a Canadian actress born in 1967. Hart has appeared in numerous television shows and movies, including "Supernatural," "Smallville," and "The X-Files." She is also known for her work in theater and has performed in various productions across Canada.
In literature, the name Tenee appears in the novel "The Bone People" by Keri Hulme, published in 1983. The novel won the Booker Prize in 1985 and features a character named Tenee, who plays a significant role in the story.
Tenee Gerline was an American painter and sculptor born in 1920 in Oklahoma. She was known for her abstract expressionist works and participated in several notable exhibitions throughout her career, including the Whitney Annual in 1958 and the Museum of Modern Art's "Americans 1963" exhibition.
Additionally, Tenee Charboneaux was a French-Canadian singer and songwriter born in 1952 in Quebec, Canada. She gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s for her folk and pop music, releasing several albums and performing in various venues across Canada and Europe.
It is important to note that while these individuals share the name Tenee, the specific origin and cultural significance of the name may vary depending on the context and geographical location in which it was used.
People
Tenee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tenee 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
Tenee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tenee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 86 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tenee 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 3,985,516 US residents.
Is Tenee a common name?
We classify Tenee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 91 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tenee most popular?
The single biggest year for Tenee was 1993, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tenee is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tenee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 146 people with the name Tenee, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,062 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 Tenee 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 Tenee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tenee leans strongly female. 144 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 3 male bearers (2.0%). 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 Tenee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tenee is Black at 63.0%. The next largest groups are White (24.0%) and Hispanic (7.5%). 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 Tenee most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tenee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.0% (92 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 Tenee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tenee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tenee 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 Tenee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tenee 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 Tenee 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 Americans are named Tenee?
See how many people share the name Tenee on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.