Tiberius
A masculine Latin name meaning "from or belonging to the Tiber River".
Name Census estimates that about 1,252 living Americans carry the first name Tiberius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tiberius today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tiberius births was 2015 (109 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tiberius. 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 Tiberius with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Tiberius is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 273,765 Americans
Peak year
2015
109 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,585
Tracked since 1992
Census
Tiberius in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 941 people with the first name Tiberius, which placed it at #12,999 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
#12,999
National first-name rank
People counted
941
941 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tiberius
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tiberius is White at 60.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.6%) and Black (12.1%). 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 Tiberius 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 Tiberius at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.6% · 570
- Two or more races12.6% · 119
- Black or African American12.1% · 114
- Hispanic or Latino11.9% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 7
Popularity
Tiberius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tiberius 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 792 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tiberius remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tiberius 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 Tiberius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tiberius' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Tiberius, while Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tiberius
The name Tiberius has its origins in the Latin language and is derived from the Latin term "Tiberis", which refers to the Tiber River that flows through Rome. The name dates back to ancient Roman times and was initially associated with the Tiberius branch of the gens Claudia, a prominent Roman family.
In Roman history, Tiberius was the name of several notable figures, including Tiberius Claudius Nero, the second Roman emperor who ruled from 14 to 37 AD. He succeeded Augustus and is known for his military campaigns, as well as his authoritarian rule and the establishment of the Praetorian Guard.
Another historical figure with this name was Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a Roman politician and reformer from the 2nd century BC. He served as a tribune of the plebs and advocated for land reforms and the extension of Roman citizenship to Italian allies.
The name Tiberius also appears in Biblical texts, specifically in the Gospel of Luke, where it is mentioned in connection with the reign of Tiberius Caesar during the time of John the Baptist's ministry.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tiberius dates back to the 1st century AD, with Tiberius Claudius Nero, the Roman emperor mentioned earlier. Other notable individuals throughout history with the name Tiberius include:
1. Tiberius II Constantine (circa 535-582), Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 574 to 582.
2. Tiberius Sempronius Longus (circa 210-163 BC), Roman consul and military commander during the Second Punic War.
3. Tiberius Claudius Maximus (circa 390-455), Western Roman statesman and general who briefly became Emperor in 455.
4. Tiberius Claudius Sacerdos (fl. 4th century AD), Roman grammarian and author of a work on Latin metrics.
5. Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (circa 25-101 AD), Roman poet and author of the epic poem "Punica" about the Second Punic War.
The name Tiberius has a rich historical legacy, rooted in ancient Roman culture and associated with notable figures from various eras, ranging from emperors and politicians to writers and military leaders.
People
Tiberius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tiberius 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
Tiberius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tiberius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,252 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tiberius 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 273,765 US residents.
Is Tiberius a common name?
We classify Tiberius as "Rare". It ranks above 91.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,262 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tiberius most popular?
The single biggest year for Tiberius was 2015, when 109 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tiberius is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tiberius in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 941 people with the name Tiberius, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,999 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 Tiberius 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 Tiberius?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tiberius appears almost entirely male. Of the 940 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Tiberius?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tiberius is White at 60.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.6%) and Black (12.1%). 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 Tiberius most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tiberius in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.6% (570 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 Tiberius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tiberius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tiberius 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 Tiberius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tiberius 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 Tiberius 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 called Tiberius?
See how many people have the name Tiberius on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.