Terrah
A feminine name of American origin meaning "Earth" or "World".
Name Census estimates that about 643 living Americans carry the first name Terrah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Terrah today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Terrah births was 1987 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Terrah. 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
643
~ 1 in 533,055 Americans
Peak year
1987
33 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,000
Tracked since 1970
Census
Terrah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 602 people with the first name Terrah, which placed it at #18,028 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
#18,028
National first-name rank
People counted
602
602 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Terrah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrah is White at 62.0%. The next largest groups are Black (23.9%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Terrah 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 Terrah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.0% · 373
- Black or African American23.9% · 144
- Two or more races4.8% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 15
Popularity
Terrah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Terrah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 237 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
Terrah 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 Terrah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Terrahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Terrah
The name Terrah is believed to have its origins in the ancient Hebrew language. It is thought to be derived from the Hebrew word "eretz," which means "earth" or "land." The name may have been given to children as a symbol of connection to the land and the natural world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Terrah can be found in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. Here, Terrah is mentioned as the father of the biblical patriarch Abraham. This would place the name's usage around the 2nd millennium BCE in the ancient Near East.
In the Middle Ages, the name Terrah appeared sporadically in various regions of Europe, particularly among Jewish communities. One notable figure who bore the name was Terrah ben Elijah, a 12th-century Jewish scholar and philosopher from Provence, France.
During the Renaissance period, the name Terrah gained some popularity in certain parts of Europe, particularly in regions with strong Jewish cultural influences. One example is Terrah de Herrera, a 16th-century Jewish philosopher and theologian from Spain.
In the 19th century, the name Terrah was occasionally used in various English-speaking countries, though it remained relatively uncommon. One notable individual with this name was Terrah Cooley, an American educator and author born in 1822.
Another notable figure was Terrah Parravicini, an Italian-Swiss painter and artist who lived from 1890 to 1955. His works were heavily influenced by the Symbolist movement and often depicted mythological and allegorical subjects.
In more recent times, the name Terrah has remained relatively rare, though it has been used sporadically in various parts of the world. One example is Terrah Lail, an Australian-born singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the 2000s.
People
Terrah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Terrah 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
Terrah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Terrah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 643 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Terrah 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 533,055 US residents.
Is Terrah a common name?
We classify Terrah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 674 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Terrah most popular?
The single biggest year for Terrah was 1987, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Terrah is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Terrah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 602 people with the name Terrah, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,028 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 Terrah 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 Terrah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Terrah leans strongly female. 585 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 11 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Terrah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrah is White at 62.0%. The next largest groups are Black (23.9%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Terrah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Terrah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.0% (373 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 Terrah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Terrah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Terrah 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 Terrah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Terrah 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 Terrah 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 common is the name Terrah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.