Thierno
A masculine name of West African origin meaning "religious teacher" or "Islamic scholar".
Name Census estimates that about 387 living Americans carry the first name Thierno. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thierno today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thierno births was 2021 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thierno. 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 Thierno with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
387
~ 1 in 885,670 Americans
Peak year
2021
22 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,410
Tracked since 1996
Census
Thierno in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 795 people with the first name Thierno, which placed it at #14,731 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
#14,731
National first-name rank
People counted
795
795 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
95.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thierno
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thierno is Black at 95.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.3%) and White (1.5%). 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 Thierno 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 Thierno at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American95.5% · 759
- Two or more races2.3% · 18
- White1.5% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Thierno: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thierno from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 136 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Thierno remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thierno 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 Thierno during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thiernos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Thierno
The name Thierno originates from the Mandinka and Fula languages of West Africa, particularly in the regions of Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, and Mali. It derives from the Arabic word "Thierno," which means "learned" or "scholar." This name gained prominence during the spread of Islam in West Africa, particularly between the 11th and 16th centuries.
In the medieval era, the title "Thierno" was bestowed upon Islamic scholars and religious leaders who had attained a high level of knowledge and wisdom in Islamic teachings. These individuals played a crucial role in the dissemination of Islamic education and the establishment of Quranic schools throughout the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Thierno can be found in the historical accounts of the Malian Empire, which flourished between the 13th and 17th centuries. Several prominent Islamic scholars and rulers from this period bore the name Thierno, such as Thierno Souleymane Baal, a renowned scholar and teacher who lived in the 15th century.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Thierno gained further recognition in the region, particularly among the Fula people. Thierno Saidou Nourou Tall, a Fula scholar and religious leader from the 18th century, played a significant role in the spread of Islam and Islamic education in present-day Senegal and Gambia.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Thierno. These include Thierno Bâ, a Senegalese scholar and founder of the Mouride Islamic brotherhood, who lived in the late 19th century. Thierno Ganda Fèl, a 19th-century Fula scholar and military leader, is also known for his contributions to the preservation of Fula culture and language.
Another prominent figure was Thierno Amadou Barry, a 20th-century Guinean scholar, writer, and politician who played a crucial role in the country's independence movement. Thierno Birahim Tall, a Senegalese scholar and founder of the Tijaniyyah Islamic brotherhood in Senegal, was also a significant figure in the 19th century.
Thierno Mountaga Dah, a Guinean scholar and historian from the 20th century, made invaluable contributions to the preservation of the oral traditions and historical records of the Mandinka people.
People
Thierno + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thierno 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
Thierno: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thierno?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 387 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thierno 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 885,670 US residents.
Is Thierno a common name?
We classify Thierno as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 391 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thierno most popular?
The single biggest year for Thierno was 2021, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thierno is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thierno in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 795 people with the name Thierno, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,731 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 Thierno 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 Thierno?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thierno leans strongly male. 782 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 11 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Thierno?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thierno is Black at 95.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.3%) and White (1.5%). 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 Thierno most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Thierno in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.5% (759 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 Thierno in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thierno a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thierno 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 Thierno still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thierno 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 Thierno 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 share the name Thierno?
You can see how many people have the name Thierno on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.