Tennis
A modern word name derived from the sport of tennis.
Name Census estimates that about 66 living Americans carry the first name Tennis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tennis today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tennis births was 1926 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tennis. 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
- • The typical person named Tennis is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Tennis' were born before 1962.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tennis. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
66
~ 1 in 5,193,248 Americans
Peak year
1926
14 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1967 SSA rank
#3,924
Tracked since 1913
Census
Tennis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 154 people with the first name Tennis, which placed it at #44,677 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
#44,677
National first-name rank
People counted
154
154 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tennis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tennis is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.2%). 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 Tennis 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 Tennis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.8% · 126
- Black or African American11.0% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 5
- Two or more races3.2% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 1
Popularity
Tennis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tennis from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 55 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Tennis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tennis 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 Tennis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tennis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tennis
The given name Tennis is thought to have originated from the ancient Latin word "tennis," which means "to hold or possess." This word is believed to have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "ten," meaning "to stretch or extend." The name likely gained popularity during the Roman era, when Latin was the predominant language in the region.
Tennis was a relatively uncommon name in ancient times, but it did appear in a few historical records and texts. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who mentioned a soldier named Tennis serving in the Roman army during the 1st century AD.
In the Middle Ages, the name Tennis was occasionally used in various parts of Europe, particularly in regions influenced by Latin culture. One notable example is Tennis of Bologna, an Italian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 13th century and made significant contributions to the study of trigonometry.
During the Renaissance period, the name Tennis gained some popularity among the aristocratic classes in Italy and other parts of Europe. A famous bearer of the name was Tennis Court, a French nobleman and courtier who served under King Louis XIV in the 17th century.
In the 18th century, Tennis was a relatively uncommon name, but it did appear in some literary works of the time. For instance, the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe included a character named Tennis in his novel "Elective Affinities," published in 1809.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Tennis was Tennis Renaux, a French artist and painter who lived in the 19th century (1822-1890). Renaux was known for his landscapes and scenes depicting rural life in France.
Other individuals with the name Tennis throughout history include Tennis Willoughby (1856-1932), an English cricket player who represented Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, and Tennis Semitic (1891-1964), a Swedish novelist and playwright who wrote extensively about life in rural Sweden.
While the name Tennis has been relatively uncommon throughout history, it has maintained a presence in various cultures and regions, particularly those influenced by Latin and European traditions. The name's origins and meaning reflect its connection to ancient Roman language and culture.
People
Tennis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tennis 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
Tennis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tennis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tennis 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 5,193,248 US residents.
Is Tennis a common name?
We classify Tennis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 202 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tennis most popular?
The single biggest year for Tennis was 1926, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tennis is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tennis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 154 people with the name Tennis, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,677 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 Tennis 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 Tennis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tennis leans strongly male. 129 people counted with this name were male (84.9%), compared with 23 female bearers (15.1%). 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 Tennis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tennis is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.2%). 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 Tennis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tennis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (126 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 Tennis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tennis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tennis 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 Tennis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tennis 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 Tennis 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 have the name Tennis?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Tennis, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.