Teryn
A feminine name of English origin meaning "high place or territory".
Name Census estimates that about 1,583 living Americans carry the first name Teryn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Teryn today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Teryn births was 1995 (65 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Teryn. 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
1.6K
~ 1 in 216,522 Americans
Peak year
1995
65 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,300
Tracked since 1959
Census
Teryn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,499 people with the first name Teryn, which placed it at #9,313 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
#9,313
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,499 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Teryn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teryn is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.4%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Teryn 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 Teryn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.6% · 953
- Black or African American20.4% · 306
- Two or more races6.9% · 103
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Teryn
Teryn leans heavily female at 84.0% of total registrations, but 261 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Teryn as a male name
- Ranked #13,984 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (20 births)
Teryn as a female name
- Ranked #13,300 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (59 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Teryn leans strongly female. 1,248 people counted with this name were female (83.0%), compared with 256 male bearers (17.0%).
Popularity
Teryn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Teryn from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 503 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
Teryn 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 Teryn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Teryns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Utah recorded the most babies named Teryn, while Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Teryn
The name Teryn is believed to have its origins in the Gaelic language, specifically from the Scottish and Irish regions. It is thought to be derived from the word "tir," which means "land" or "territory." This suggests that the name Teryn may have initially been used to refer to someone who owned or controlled a particular area of land.
In its earliest recorded usage, the name Teryn was often spelled as "Teyrn" or "Teyrnedd," which further reinforces its connection to the Gaelic term for land or territory. The name appears to have been particularly prevalent in medieval Scotland and Ireland, where it was likely used as a title or designation for local chieftains or landowners.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Teryn can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In this text, there are references to individuals bearing the name Teryn or variations of it, such as Teyrnoc and Teyrnán, dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Teryn. One of the earliest was Teryn ap Bleddyn (1025-1093), a Welsh prince and ruler of the Kingdom of Powys in the late 11th century. Another prominent figure was Teryn MacAlpine (1558-1628), a Scottish chieftain and leader of the Clan MacAlpine.
In the realm of literature and poetry, the name Teryn was immortalized in the works of the Welsh bard Taliesin, who lived in the 6th century. Taliesin's poems and writings often made reference to various Teryn figures, further cementing the name's connection to the concept of land and territory.
Other notable individuals with the name Teryn include Teryn O'Malley (1732-1798), an Irish rebel and patriot during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and Teryn MacKenzie (1860-1932), a Scottish explorer and naturalist who traveled extensively in the Canadian Arctic.
While the name Teryn may have fallen out of widespread use in more recent times, its rich historical roots and associations with land, territory, and leadership continue to make it a compelling and evocative name with a strong connection to the Gaelic cultures of Scotland and Ireland.
People
Teryn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Teryn 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
Teryn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Teryn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,583 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Teryn 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 216,522 US residents.
Is Teryn a common name?
We classify Teryn as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,634 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Teryn most popular?
The single biggest year for Teryn was 1995, when 65 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Teryn is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Teryn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,499 people with the name Teryn, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,313 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 Teryn 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 Teryn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Teryn leans strongly female. 1,248 people counted with this name were female (83.0%), compared with 256 male bearers (17.0%). 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 Teryn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teryn is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (20.4%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Teryn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Teryn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.6% (953 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 Teryn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Teryn a female name?
Yes, 84.0% of people registered as Teryn 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 Teryn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Teryn 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 Teryn 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 are named Teryn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.