Tennyson
Son of a compounder or someone who makes tents or awnings.
Name Census estimates that about 1,360 living Americans carry the first name Tennyson. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Tennyson today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tennyson births was 2017 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tennyson. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 252,025 Americans
Peak year
2017
80 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,872
Tracked since 1913
Gender
Gender distribution for Tennyson
Tennyson is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,555 total registrations, 1,165 (74.9%) were male and 390 (25.1%) were female.
Tennyson as a male name
- Ranked #3,872 in 2024
- 29 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (48 births)
Tennyson as a female name
- Ranked #12,015 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (43 births)
Popularity
Tennyson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tennyson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 646 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tennyson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tennyson 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 Tennyson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tennysons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, California, Colorado recorded the most babies named Tennyson, while Utah, North Carolina, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tennyson
Tennyson is an English given name that originates from the Old English surname "Tennyson", which is derived from the words "tener" meaning "tenant" and "sunu" meaning "son". The name likely arose as a descriptive name for someone whose father or ancestor was a tenant farmer or landowner.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tennyson dates back to the late 16th century, though it was initially used as a surname. One of the earliest notable individuals with the name was Thomas Tennyson (1638-1705), an English clergyman and the great-grandfather of the famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was undoubtedly the most famous bearer of the name. He was the Poet Laureate of Great Britain and is considered one of the greatest English poets of the Victorian era. Some of his most famous works include "In Memoriam A.H.H.", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", and "Idylls of the King".
Another notable individual with the name was Sir Charles Tennyson (1808-1879), an English colonial administrator and politician who served as the 12th Governor of Victoria, Australia. He was also the younger brother of Alfred Tennyson.
Hallam Tennyson (1920-2005) was an English writer and biographer who served as the 2nd Governor-General of Australia from 1965 to 1972. He was a descendant of Alfred Tennyson and wrote several biographies on his famous ancestor.
Merlyn Tennyson (1907-1957) was a British artist and painter, known for her portraits and landscape paintings. She was also a distant relative of Alfred Tennyson and was named after the character of Merlyn from the poet's "Idylls of the King".
While the name Tennyson was initially an English surname, it gained popularity as a given name in the 19th century, likely due to the fame and influence of Alfred Tennyson's works. The name has been used predominantly in English-speaking countries and is associated with literary and artistic circles.
People
Tennyson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tennyson 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
Tennyson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tennyson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,360 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tennyson 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 252,025 US residents.
Is Tennyson a common name?
We classify Tennyson as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,555 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tennyson most popular?
The single biggest year for Tennyson was 2017, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tennyson is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tennyson a male name?
Yes, 74.9% of people registered as Tennyson 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.
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.