Tinya
A feminine Sanskrit name meaning "the smallest" or "tiny".
Name Census estimates that about 128 living Americans carry the first name Tinya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tinya today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tinya births was 1975 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tinya. 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.
People living today
128
~ 1 in 2,677,768 Americans
Peak year
1975
15 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2010 SSA rank
#19,609
Tracked since 1960
Census
Tinya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 201 people with the first name Tinya, which placed it at #38,294 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
#38,294
National first-name rank
People counted
201
201 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
58.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tinya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tinya is Black at 58.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.9%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Tinya 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 Tinya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American58.2% · 117
- White26.9% · 54
- Two or more races5.5% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 4
Popularity
Tinya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tinya from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 58 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tinya 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 Tinya 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 Tinya
The name Tinya has its origins in the Sanskrit language, dating back to ancient India. It is derived from the word "Tina," which means "small" or "tiny." The name was often given to children, particularly girls, as a term of endearment, reflecting their diminutive stature and size.
In Hindu mythology, Tinya is mentioned as the name of a character in the epic Mahabharata. She was a minor character, a handmaiden to the princess Draupadi. While her role was relatively small, the inclusion of the name in such an ancient and revered text speaks to its antiquity and usage in ancient Indian society.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tinya can be found in the Gupta Empire, which ruled over large parts of the Indian subcontinent from the 4th to the 6th century CE. Historical records from this period mention a female ruler named Tinya Devi, who governed a small kingdom in central India.
In the 12th century, a Rajput princess named Tinya Rani rose to prominence in the court of the Chahamana dynasty in present-day Rajasthan. She was known for her beauty, intelligence, and skill in statecraft, and her name is mentioned in several contemporary accounts and chronicles.
During the Mughal era in India, which spanned from the 16th to the 19th century, the name Tinya was not uncommon among the nobility and aristocracy. One notable figure was Tinya Begum, a courtesan and poet who lived in the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the late 16th century.
In more recent times, the name Tinya has been used by several notable individuals. Tinya Mitchum, an American actress and dancer, was born in 1934 and appeared in several films and television shows throughout her career. Tinya Irizarry, a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter, rose to fame in the 1980s and is known for her contributions to the Latin pop and salsa genres.
While the name Tinya is of Indian origin, it has been adopted and used across various cultures and regions over the centuries. Its meaning and association with smallness and endearment have remained relatively consistent, reflecting the universality of affection for children and the desire to bestow upon them names that capture their innocence and delicateness.
People
Tinya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tinya 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
Tinya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tinya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 128 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tinya 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 2,677,768 US residents.
Is Tinya a common name?
We classify Tinya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 143 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tinya most popular?
The single biggest year for Tinya was 1975, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tinya is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tinya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 201 people with the name Tinya, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,294 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 Tinya 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 Tinya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tinya appears almost entirely female. Of the 202 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Tinya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tinya is Black at 58.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.9%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Tinya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tinya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.2% (117 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 Tinya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tinya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tinya 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 Tinya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tinya 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 Tinya 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 Tinya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Tinya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.