Tiney
Diminutive form of the feminine name Tina or feminine form of the masculine name Tiny.
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Tiney. It is a predominantly female name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Tiney today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tiney births was 1926 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tiney. 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
- • The typical person named Tiney is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Tineys were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tiney. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
1926
15 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1927 SSA rank
#4,744
Tracked since 1881
Census
Tiney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 114 people with the first name Tiney, which placed it at #51,355 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
#51,355
National first-name rank
People counted
114
114 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tiney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tiney is Black at 44.7%. The next largest groups are White (43.9%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Tiney 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 Tiney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.7% · 51
- White43.9% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 9
- Two or more races2.6% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Tiney
Tiney leans heavily female at 98.5% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tiney as a male name
- Ranked #4,744 in 1927
- 5 male births in 1927
- Peak: 1927 (5 births)
Tiney as a female name
- Ranked #6,180 in 1959
- 6 female births in 1959
- Peak: 1926 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tiney leans strongly female. 99 people counted with this name were female (86.1%), compared with 16 male bearers (13.9%).
Popularity
Tiney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tiney from the 1880s through to the 1950s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 86 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tiney 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 Tiney 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 Tiney
The name Tiney is believed to have originated from the Old English word "tine," which means "a prong or spike." This suggests that the name may have initially been used as a nickname or descriptive term for someone with a distinctive physical characteristic, such as pointed features or spiky hair.
In the Middle Ages, the name Tiney appeared in various medieval records and documents across England and parts of Scotland. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded a landowner named Tiney in the county of Oxfordshire.
During the 12th century, a notable figure named Tiney de Mohun was a prominent Norman knight who fought alongside King Richard I in the Third Crusade. He is mentioned in several historical accounts of the time for his bravery and military exploits in the Holy Land.
In the 14th century, a woman named Tiney Lyttelton was recorded as a wealthy landowner and philanthropist in the county of Worcestershire. She was known for her generous support of local churches and charitable organizations.
Moving forward to the 16th century, Tiney Cawdron was a renowned playwright and poet in Elizabethan England. Some of his works were performed at the Globe Theatre and were praised for their wit and social commentary.
Another notable figure was Tiney Beddingfield, a 17th-century English explorer and navigator who accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyages to the Pacific Ocean. Beddingfield's detailed journals and maps contributed significantly to the exploration and mapping of various islands and coastlines.
These historical examples demonstrate that the name Tiney has a rich and diverse heritage, spanning various eras and regions. While its origins may have been humble, the name has been borne by individuals from different walks of life, including knights, landowners, artists, and explorers.
People
Tiney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tiney 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
Tiney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tiney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tiney 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Tiney a common name?
We classify Tiney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 332 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tiney most popular?
The single biggest year for Tiney was 1926, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tiney is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tiney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 114 people with the name Tiney, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,355 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 Tiney 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 Tiney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tiney leans strongly female. 99 people counted with this name were female (86.1%), compared with 16 male bearers (13.9%). 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 Tiney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tiney is Black at 44.7%. The next largest groups are White (43.9%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Tiney most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tiney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.7% (51 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 Tiney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tiney a female name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Tiney 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 Tiney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tiney 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 Tiney 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 Tiney?
Want to know how many Americans are named Tiney? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.