Tilghman
Anglicized form of a Scottish surname derived from an Old English place name.
Name Census estimates that about 19 living Americans carry the first name Tilghman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tilghman today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tilghman births was 1922 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tilghman. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tilghman. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
19
~ 1 in 18,039,702 Americans
Peak year
1922
9 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2017 SSA rank
#14,064
Tracked since 1915
Census
Tilghman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 146 people with the first name Tilghman, which placed it at #46,062 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
#46,062
National first-name rank
People counted
146
146 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tilghman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tilghman is White at 78.1%. The next largest groups are Black (14.4%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Tilghman 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 Tilghman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.1% · 114
- Black or African American14.4% · 21
- Two or more races3.4% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
Popularity
Tilghman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tilghman from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 22 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Tilghman remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tilghman 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 Tilghman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tilghman
The given name Tilghman has its origins in the Low German language, which was spoken in various regions of northern Germany and the Netherlands during the medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the combination of two Old Saxon words: "tili" meaning "noble" or "distinguished" and "man" meaning "man" or "person."
This name gained particular prominence in the region of East Frisia, which is located in present-day northwestern Germany and the Netherlands. The earliest recorded instances of the name Tilghman can be traced back to the 13th century in this area, where it was commonly used among the local nobility and landowning families.
One of the earliest documented individuals bearing the name Tilghman was Tilghman von Wittmund, a influential nobleman who lived in the late 13th century and held significant landholdings in East Frisia. He played a crucial role in the political and economic affairs of the region during his time.
In the 16th century, the name Tilghman gained wider recognition with the rise of Tilghman von Hirten, a prominent East Frisian statesman and diplomat who served as the ambassador to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Von Hirten's diplomatic efforts and negotiation skills were highly regarded, and he played a significant role in maintaining peace and stability in the region.
Another notable figure bearing the name Tilghman was Tilghman von Bockeln (1623-1677), a renowned jurist and legal scholar from East Frisia. His extensive writings and interpretations of Germanic legal codes had a lasting impact on the development of law in the region.
As the name Tilghman spread beyond East Frisia, it also gained prominence in other parts of Europe. In England, one of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Tilghman Watkins (1624-1670), a wealthy merchant and landowner who played a significant role in the colonization of Maryland in the mid-17th century.
Another influential figure was Tilghman Philips (1688-1766), a British colonial administrator and politician who served as the governor of Nova Scotia from 1749 to 1755. His efforts in promoting the settlement and development of the colony were widely recognized during his time.
Over the centuries, the name Tilghman has been carried by numerous individuals from various walks of life, including writers, artists, military leaders, and scientists. While its origins can be traced back to the Low German language and the medieval period, the name has transcended its geographical boundaries and continues to be used across different cultures and regions.
People
Tilghman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tilghman 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
Tilghman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tilghman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tilghman 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 18,039,702 US residents.
Is Tilghman a common name?
We classify Tilghman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 39.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 58 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tilghman most popular?
The single biggest year for Tilghman was 1922, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tilghman is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tilghman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 146 people with the name Tilghman, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,062 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 Tilghman 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 Tilghman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tilghman leans strongly male. 136 people counted with this name were male (92.5%), compared with 11 female bearers (7.5%). 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 Tilghman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tilghman is White at 78.1%. The next largest groups are Black (14.4%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Tilghman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tilghman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.1% (114 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 Tilghman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tilghman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tilghman 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 Tilghman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tilghman 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 Tilghman 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 common is the name Tilghman?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.