Terik
Of Arabic origin meaning "to leave traces or footprints behind".
Name Census estimates that about 111 living Americans carry the first name Terik. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Terik today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Terik births was 1997 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Terik. 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
111
~ 1 in 3,087,877 Americans
Peak year
1997
16 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2016 SSA rank
#13,975
Tracked since 1978
Census
Terik in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 190 people with the first name Terik, which placed it at #39,614 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
#39,614
National first-name rank
People counted
190
190 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Terik
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terik is Black at 56.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.4%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Terik 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 Terik at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.8% · 108
- White27.4% · 52
- Two or more races7.4% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 3
Popularity
Terik: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Terik from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 79 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Terik 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 Terik 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 Terik
The name Terik is believed to have its origins in ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran, dating back to the 6th century BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Old Persian word "terk," which means "arrow" or "spear." This suggests that the name may have been given to warriors or skilled archers in the Persian armies of antiquity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Terik can be found in the Achaemenid inscriptions, a collection of ancient Persian texts from the reign of Darius the Great (550-486 BCE). These inscriptions mention a nobleman named Terik who served as a high-ranking official in the Persian court.
During the Sassanid Empire, which ruled Persia from the 3rd to the 7th century CE, the name Terik gained popularity among the noble classes. It is believed that a prominent military commander named Terik led the Sassanid forces in several decisive battles against the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century CE.
In the 9th century CE, the name Terik appeared in the writings of the famous Persian poet and scholar Ferdowsi. In his epic poem, the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi mentions a character named Terik who was a loyal companion to the legendary hero Rostam.
During the medieval period, the name Terik was also found in various Islamic texts and historical records from the region. One notable figure was Terik al-Andalusi, a 12th-century Andalusian scholar and philosopher who made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy.
Throughout history, several other notable individuals have borne the name Terik:
1. Terik Khan (1235-1292), a powerful Mongol military leader and governor of Persia under the Ilkhanate Empire.
2. Terik Pasha (1520-1585), an Ottoman statesman and grand vizier who served during the reign of Sultan Murad III.
3. Terik ibn Zaydan (1005-1061), a renowned Arab poet and literary figure from Cordoba, Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain).
4. Terik Amir-Gholi (1715-1789), a Persian military commander who played a crucial role in the establishment of the Qajar dynasty in Iran.
5. Terik Mirza (1825-1888), a influential Persian nobleman and statesman during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar.
People
Terik + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Terik 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
Terik: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Terik?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Terik 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 3,087,877 US residents.
Is Terik a common name?
We classify Terik as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 114 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Terik most popular?
The single biggest year for Terik was 1997, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Terik is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Terik in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 190 people with the name Terik, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,614 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 Terik 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 Terik?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Terik leans strongly male. 186 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 8 female bearers (4.1%). 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 Terik?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terik is Black at 56.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.4%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Terik most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Terik in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.8% (108 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 Terik in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Terik a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Terik 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 Terik still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Terik 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 Terik 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 Terik?
See how many people share the name Terik on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.