Tila
A feminine Sanskrit name meaning "sesame seed".
Name Census estimates that about 439 living Americans carry the first name Tila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tila today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tila births was 2008 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tila. 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 Tila with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
439
~ 1 in 780,762 Americans
Peak year
2008
34 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,021
Tracked since 1930
Census
Tila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 853 people with the first name Tila, which placed it at #13,969 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
#13,969
National first-name rank
People counted
853
853 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
46.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tila is Asian/Pacific Islander at 46.2%. The next largest groups are White (19.7%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Tila 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 Tila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander46.2% · 394
- White19.7% · 168
- Hispanic or Latino19.2% · 164
- Black or African American11.6% · 99
- Two or more races2.2% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 9
Popularity
Tila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tila from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 146 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tila 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 Tila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tilas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tila
The name Tila is believed to have its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient language of India. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Thilaka," which means "a mark or dot on the forehead." This dot or mark is commonly associated with Hindu religious practices and is considered a symbol of spiritual awakening and enlightenment.
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Vedas and Upanishads, the word "Thilaka" is mentioned in various contexts, often referring to the spiritual significance of the mark on the forehead. The earliest recorded use of the name Tila can be traced back to ancient Hindu traditions and religious texts.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Tila was Tila Devi, a Hindu mystic and spiritual teacher who lived in India during the 8th century CE. She was renowned for her teachings on spirituality and self-realization, and her followers revered her as a living embodiment of divine wisdom.
Another notable figure in history was Tila Saheb, a 14th-century Sufi saint and poet from the Deccan region of India. His spiritual verses and teachings on love and devotion to the divine are still cherished by many in the region.
In the realm of literature, Tila Satyanarayana was a prominent Telugu poet and writer from the 20th century. Born in 1909 and died in 1992, he was widely acclaimed for his contributions to Telugu literature and his efforts in preserving the rich cultural heritage of Andhra Pradesh.
Tila Govindamma was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She played an active role in the Indian independence movement and worked tirelessly to uplift the status of women in society.
Lastly, Tila Tequila, born Thien Thanh Thi Nguyen in 1981, is a Vietnamese-American model, television personality, and singer. While not of direct Indian or Sanskrit descent, her chosen stage name "Tila" reflects the global reach and popularity of the name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tila
People
Tila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tila 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
Tila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 439 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tila 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 780,762 US residents.
Is Tila a common name?
We classify Tila as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 463 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tila most popular?
The single biggest year for Tila was 2008, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tila is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 853 people with the name Tila, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,969 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 Tila 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 Tila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tila leans strongly female. 783 people counted with this name were female (91.6%), compared with 72 male bearers (8.4%). 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 Tila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tila is Asian/Pacific Islander at 46.2%. The next largest groups are White (19.7%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Tila most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.2% (394 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 Tila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tila 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 Tila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tila 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 Tila 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 Americans are named Tila?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.