Tilia
A feminine name of Latin origin referring to the linden tree.
Name Census estimates that about 121 living Americans carry the first name Tilia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tilia today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tilia births was 2016 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tilia. 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 Tilia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
121
~ 1 in 2,832,680 Americans
Peak year
2016
11 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,080
Tracked since 1989
Census
Tilia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Tilia, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tilia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tilia is Black at 37.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.3%) and Hispanic (11.9%). 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 Tilia 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 Tilia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.4% · 88
- White35.3% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino11.9% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.2% · 17
- Two or more races6.4% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
Popularity
Tilia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tilia from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 74 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tilia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tilia 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 Tilia 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 Tilia
The name Tilia is derived from the Latin word for the linden tree, which is also known as the lime tree or basswood tree. This tree was highly revered in ancient Roman and Greek cultures, and its wood was used for various purposes, including making shields, baskets, and beehives.
The name Tilia likely originated as a Roman name, given to girls born near or under the shade of a linden tree. It was a popular name during the Roman Empire, and it can be found in various ancient Roman texts and historical records.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Tilia is from the 1st century AD, when a Roman woman named Tilia Arria was mentioned in the writings of the historian Tacitus. She was the wife of Caecina Paetus, a Roman senator who was involved in a conspiracy against the emperor Claudius.
Another notable historical figure with the name Tilia was Tilia Balbilla, a Roman poet who lived during the 2nd century AD. She was part of the court of the emperor Hadrian and accompanied him on his travels to Egypt, where she composed several poems that were inscribed on the colossal statue of Memnon in Thebes.
In the 4th century AD, there was a Christian martyr named Tilia who was executed for her faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Diocletian. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, and her feast day is celebrated on September 28th.
During the Middle Ages, the name Tilia fell out of widespread use but was still occasionally given to girls in certain regions of Europe, particularly in areas where the linden tree held cultural or spiritual significance.
One notable bearer of the name during this period was Tilia of Bologna, an Italian nun and mystic who lived in the 13th century. She is known for her visions and spiritual writings, which were influential in the development of the Franciscan movement.
In the Renaissance period, the name Tilia experienced a revival, particularly among humanist scholars and poets who were inspired by classical Roman culture and literature. One example is Tilia Piccolomini, an Italian poet and writer who lived in the 16th century and was a member of the famous Piccolomini family.
People
Tilia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tilia 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
Tilia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tilia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 121 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tilia 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 2,832,680 US residents.
Is Tilia a common name?
We classify Tilia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tilia most popular?
The single biggest year for Tilia was 2016, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tilia is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tilia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Tilia, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Tilia 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 Tilia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tilia appears almost entirely female. Of the 236 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Tilia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tilia is Black at 37.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.3%) and Hispanic (11.9%). 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 Tilia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tilia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.4% (88 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 Tilia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tilia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tilia 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 Tilia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tilia 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 Tilia 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 Tilia?
You can see how many Americans are named Tilia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.