Tierra
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "earth" or "land".
Name Census estimates that about 14,452 living Americans carry the first name Tierra. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Tierra today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tierra births was 1993 (826 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tierra. 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 Tierra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tierra is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 70 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 23,717 Americans
Peak year
1993
826 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
1992 SSA rank
#4,640
Tracked since 1964
Census
Tierra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,558 people with the first name Tierra, which placed it at #2,254 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
#2,254
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,558 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tierra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tierra is Black at 75.5%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Tierra 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 Tierra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.5% · 8,725
- White12.2% · 1,412
- Two or more races6.1% · 703
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 480
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 150
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 88
Gender
Gender distribution for Tierra
Out of the 14,988 babies given the name Tierra since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tierra as a male name
- Ranked #9,685 in 1992
- 5 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1981 (27 births)
Tierra as a female name
- Ranked #4,640 in 2024
- 30 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (826 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tierra appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,562 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tierra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tierra from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 7,190 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
Tierra 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 Tierra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tierras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Illinois, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Tierra, while West Virginia, Idaho, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 318 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tierra
The name Tierra is a Spanish word meaning "earth" or "land". It finds its origins in the Latin word "terra", which translates to the same meaning. The name is believed to have been first used as a given name during the Middle Ages in Spain and other parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
Tierra was a popular name during the Renaissance period, particularly in Spain and its colonies in the Americas. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Tierra de Campos, a region in the province of Valladolid, Spain, which was named in the 12th century.
In literature, the name Tierra appears in the epic poem "La Araucana" by Alonso de Ercilla, published in 1569. The poem chronicles the Spanish conquest of Chile and the resistance of the Mapuche people. One of the characters in the poem is a Mapuche woman named Tierra.
During the Spanish Golden Age, Tierra was a relatively common name among the nobility and aristocracy. One notable figure was Tierra de Ayala y Rojas (1564-1638), a Spanish noblewoman and author who wrote poetry and plays.
In the 17th century, the name Tierra became popular in the Spanish colonies in the Americas. One notable bearer of the name was Tierra Firme (1620-1692), a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led expeditions in present-day Venezuela and Colombia.
Another famous Tierra was Tierra Caliente (1675-1740), a Mexican painter and artist who was known for her portraits and religious works. Her paintings can be found in several churches and museums in Mexico.
In the 19th century, the name Tierra was relatively uncommon but still used in some parts of Spain and Latin America. One notable figure was Tierra Blanca (1820-1890), a Cuban poet and writer who was active in the independence movement against Spanish rule.
Throughout history, the name Tierra has been associated with the earth, nature, and a connection to the land. Its Spanish and Latin roots have made it a popular name in Spanish-speaking countries and regions influenced by Spanish culture.
People
Tierra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tierra 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
Tierra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tierra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,452 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tierra 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 23,717 US residents.
Is Tierra a common name?
We classify Tierra as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,988 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tierra most popular?
The single biggest year for Tierra was 1993, when 826 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tierra is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tierra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,558 people with the name Tierra, or 3.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,254 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 Tierra 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 Tierra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tierra appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,562 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Tierra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tierra is Black at 75.5%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Tierra most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tierra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.5% (8,725 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 Tierra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tierra a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Tierra 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 Tierra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tierra 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 Tierra 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 Tierra?
Want to know how many people share the name Tierra? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.