Tishana
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "thirsty".
Name Census estimates that about 220 living Americans carry the first name Tishana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tishana today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tishana births was 1990 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tishana. 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 Tishana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
220
~ 1 in 1,557,974 Americans
Peak year
1990
16 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2007 SSA rank
#15,357
Tracked since 1971
Census
Tishana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 269 people with the first name Tishana, which placed it at #31,704 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
#31,704
National first-name rank
People counted
269
269 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tishana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tishana is Black at 73.2%. The next largest groups are White (10.4%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Tishana 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 Tishana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.2% · 197
- White10.4% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 17
- Two or more races4.8% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 5
Popularity
Tishana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tishana from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 86 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tishana 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 Tishana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tishanas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tishana
The name Tishana is believed to have its origins in the Indian subcontinent, specifically in the Sanskrit language. Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that has been the primary language of Hindu scriptures and philosophical texts for thousands of years.
The name Tishana is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "tishya," which means "bright" or "brilliant." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who were perceived as possessing a radiant or luminous personality or appearance.
While the origins of the name can be traced back to ancient Sanskrit roots, there is little historical evidence of its widespread use in ancient texts or scriptures. However, variations of the name, such as Tishya or Tishyaa, may have been used in certain Hindu communities or regions during ancient times.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tishana can be found in the writings of the 16th-century Mughal historian Abul Fazl, who mentioned a woman named Tishana Begum, a member of the Mughal nobility during the reign of Akbar the Great (1542-1605).
Another notable historical figure with the name Tishana was Tishana Kaur (1832-1909), a prominent Sikh woman from the Majha region of Punjab, India. She was known for her bravery and her involvement in the Sikh resistance against British colonial rule in the 19th century.
In more recent times, Tishana Devi (1906-1986) was a celebrated Indian classical dancer and choreographer who helped revive and popularize the Odissi dance form in the 20th century.
Tishana Patnaik (1930-2020) was an Indian politician and social activist who served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, from 1986 to 1992.
Tishana Ramchand (born 1962) is a South African writer and academic who has published several works of fiction and non-fiction, including the novel "The Mistress's Dog" and the memoir "The Sugar Palm Tree."
While the name Tishana has its roots in ancient Sanskrit, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly among South Asian communities, as a feminine name that evokes qualities of brightness, radiance, and luminosity.
People
Tishana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tishana 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
Tishana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tishana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 220 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tishana 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 1,557,974 US residents.
Is Tishana a common name?
We classify Tishana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 233 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tishana most popular?
The single biggest year for Tishana was 1990, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tishana is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tishana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 269 people with the name Tishana, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,704 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 Tishana 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 Tishana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tishana leans strongly female. 268 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Tishana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tishana is Black at 73.2%. The next largest groups are White (10.4%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Tishana most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tishana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.2% (197 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 Tishana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tishana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tishana 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 Tishana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tishana 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 Tishana 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 have Tishana as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.