Tequila
A feminine name of Spanish origin referring to a town in Mexico.
Name Census estimates that about 2,002 living Americans carry the first name Tequila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tequila today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tequila births was 1977 (128 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tequila. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Tequila with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 171,206 Americans
Peak year
1977
128 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2016 SSA rank
#18,624
Tracked since 1958
Census
Tequila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,708 people with the first name Tequila, which placed it at #8,487 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
#8,487
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,708 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tequila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tequila is Black at 83.8%. The next largest groups are White (11.3%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Tequila 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 Tequila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.8% · 1,431
- White11.3% · 193
- Two or more races2.6% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 7
Popularity
Tequila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tequila from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 850 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tequila 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 Tequila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tequilas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Illinois recorded the most babies named Tequila, while Wisconsin, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tequila
The given name Tequila is of Mexican origin and is derived from the Spanish word "tequila," which refers to a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the blue agave plant. The name is believed to have been popularized in the late 20th century, potentially inspired by the growing popularity of the tequila drink itself.
The name Tequila does not have a long-standing historical or cultural significance. It is a relatively modern name that gained traction in the Western world, particularly in the United States and other English-speaking countries, as a unique and unconventional name choice.
While there are no known ancient texts or religious scriptures that mention the name Tequila, it is believed to have been used as a given name for the first time in the latter half of the 20th century. Some of the earliest recorded instances of individuals bearing the name Tequila include:
1. Tequila Mockingbird, an American musician and singer-songwriter born in 1973.
2. Tequila Sunrise, an American adult film actress born in 1973.
3. Tequila Woo, an American actress and model born in 1981.
4. Tequila Leila, a Swedish singer and songwriter born in 1987.
5. Tequila Peplinski, an American volleyball player born in 1991.
It is important to note that while the name Tequila may have gained some popularity, particularly in certain subcultures or regions, it remains a relatively uncommon name overall. The usage of the name Tequila is often attributed to its perceived unique and unconventional nature, as well as its potential association with the alcoholic beverage of the same name.
People
Tequila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tequila 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
Tequila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tequila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,002 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tequila 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 171,206 US residents.
Is Tequila a common name?
We classify Tequila as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,134 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tequila most popular?
The single biggest year for Tequila was 1977, when 128 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tequila is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tequila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,708 people with the name Tequila, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,487 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 Tequila 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 Tequila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tequila appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,707 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Tequila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tequila is Black at 83.8%. The next largest groups are White (11.3%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Tequila most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tequila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.8% (1,431 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 Tequila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tequila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tequila 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 Tequila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tequila 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 Tequila 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 Tequila as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Tequila, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.