Tinnie
A diminutive form of the name Tina or Christine.
Name Census estimates that about 148 living Americans carry the first name Tinnie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tinnie today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tinnie births was 1918 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tinnie. 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 Tinnie is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Tinnies were born before 1959.
People living today
148
~ 1 in 2,315,908 Americans
Peak year
1918
30 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1980 SSA rank
#10,301
Tracked since 1882
Census
Tinnie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205 people with the first name Tinnie, which placed it at #37,817 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
#37,817
National first-name rank
People counted
205
205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tinnie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tinnie is Black at 60.0%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). 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 Tinnie 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 Tinnie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.0% · 123
- White29.8% · 61
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 14
- Two or more races2.0% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Tinnie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tinnie from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 190 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tinnie 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 Tinnie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tinnies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, Georgia recorded the most babies named Tinnie, while North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tinnie
The name Tinnie has its origins in the English language, and is believed to have first emerged in the late 18th century as a diminutive or nickname form of the name Tin or Tina. The name itself is thought to be derived from the Old English word "tin," which referred to the metallic chemical element.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tinnie dates back to 1792, when it appeared in the baptismal records of a parish church in the English county of Derbyshire. The name was given to a baby girl, suggesting that it was already being used as a feminine name at that time.
In the 19th century, the name Tinnie gained some popularity, particularly among working-class families in industrial areas of England. It was often associated with the tin mining industry, which was thriving in regions like Cornwall and Devon during that period.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Tinnie was Tinnie Merrick (1843-1925), a British artist and illustrator known for her detailed botanical drawings and watercolor paintings. She was born in London and spent much of her career documenting the flora and fauna of various regions of the British Isles.
Another individual of note with the name Tinnie was Tinnie Collingwood (1870-1957), a British suffragette and activist who campaigned for women's right to vote in the early 20th century. She was actively involved in the Women's Social and Political Union and participated in numerous protests and demonstrations.
In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tinnie was in 1876, when it was given to a baby girl born in the state of Massachusetts. This suggests that the name had made its way across the Atlantic and was being adopted by American families as well.
One prominent American with the name Tinnie was Tinnie Wolfe (1895-1962), a renowned folk singer and songwriter from the Appalachian region. She was known for her rich repertoire of traditional ballads and her efforts to preserve the musical heritage of the southern United States.
Another notable figure was Tinnie Ellison (1920-2007), an African American civil rights activist and educator from Mississippi. She played a crucial role in the desegregation of public schools in her home state and worked tirelessly to promote equal educational opportunities for all children, regardless of race.
While the name Tinnie was most commonly used as a feminine given name, there have been instances of it being used for males as well, although these were relatively rare. Overall, the name has maintained a distinct English character and has been passed down through generations, often carrying associations with various cultural and historical contexts.
People
Tinnie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tinnie 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
Tinnie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tinnie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 148 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tinnie 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 2,315,908 US residents.
Is Tinnie a common name?
We classify Tinnie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 954 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tinnie most popular?
The single biggest year for Tinnie was 1918, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tinnie is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tinnie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205 people with the name Tinnie, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,817 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 Tinnie 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 Tinnie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tinnie leans strongly female. 204 people counted with this name were female (97.1%), compared with 6 male bearers (2.9%). 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 Tinnie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tinnie is Black at 60.0%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%). 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 Tinnie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tinnie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.0% (123 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 Tinnie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tinnie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tinnie 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 Tinnie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tinnie 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 Tinnie 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 named Tinnie?
Find out how many Americans are named Tinnie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.