Till
An Old German masculine name meaning "mighty battle" or "brave champion".
Name Census estimates that about 35 living Americans carry the first name Till. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Till today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Till births was 2011 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Till. 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 Till. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
35
~ 1 in 9,792,981 Americans
Peak year
2011
8 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,998
Tracked since 1915
Popularity
Till: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Till from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 25 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Till remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Till 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 Till 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 Till
The name Till has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically from the Old High German name Dilli or Tilli, which is thought to be a diminutive form of names starting with the element "diet" or "thiad," meaning "people" or "nation." This suggests that the name originally carried a sense of belonging to a particular tribe or community.
In the Middle Ages, the name was prevalent in various Germanic regions, including Germany, the Netherlands, and parts of Scandinavia. It was often spelled as Tilo, Tile, or Thilo, reflecting regional variations in pronunciation and orthography.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annales Regni Francorum, a historical chronicle from the late 8th century, which mentions a Frankish nobleman named Tillo who served under Charlemagne.
The name gained further prominence through several notable historical figures. One of the most famous was Till Eulenspiegel, a legendary figure from 14th-century German folklore who was known for his mischievous pranks and satirical tales. His adventures were widely popularized in a chapbook published in the early 16th century, solidifying his place in German cultural heritage.
In the realm of literature, the name was borne by Till Duckstein, a character in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," published in the early 19th century. This further contributed to the name's recognition in the German-speaking world.
Another prominent figure was Till Gottfried Tresckow, a German army officer who played a pivotal role in the German resistance movement against Adolf Hitler during World War II. He was involved in the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, and was subsequently executed by the Nazi regime.
In the arts, the name was famously associated with Till Lindemann, the lead singer of the influential German industrial metal band Rammstein, born in 1963. His distinctive vocals and stage presence have made him an iconic figure in the world of heavy metal music.
These are just a few notable examples of individuals who have borne the name Till throughout history, each contributing to the name's rich cultural and historical significance in various fields and contexts.
People
Till + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Till 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
Till: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Till?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 35 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Till 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 9,792,981 US residents.
Is Till a common name?
We classify Till as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Till most popular?
The single biggest year for Till was 2011, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Till is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Till a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Till 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.
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.