Tiwanna
Of uncertain origin, possibly a feminine variant of the English name Tiffany.
Name Census estimates that about 232 living Americans carry the first name Tiwanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tiwanna today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tiwanna births was 1979 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tiwanna. 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
232
~ 1 in 1,477,389 Americans
Peak year
1979
23 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
1994 SSA rank
#15,609
Tracked since 1959
Popularity
Tiwanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tiwanna from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 151 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
Tiwanna 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 Tiwanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tiwannas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tiwanna
The name Tiwanna is believed to have originated from the Bantu languages spoken in various parts of Africa, particularly in the regions of Central and Southern Africa. It is thought to be derived from the root word "tiwo," which means "praise" or "glorify" in several Bantu dialects.
In its earliest known usage, the name Tiwanna was likely a combination of the root "tiwo" and a suffix or ending that conveyed a sense of endearment or femininity. This naming tradition was common among many African cultures, where names were often imbued with symbolic meanings and aspirations for the child.
While there are no definitive historical records of the name's appearance in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its linguistic roots suggest that it has been in use among various Bantu-speaking communities for centuries, possibly dating back to the medieval period or earlier.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tiwanna was Tiwanna Nzinga, a 17th-century queen of the Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms in present-day Angola. Nzinga was a renowned military leader and diplomat who fiercely resisted Portuguese colonization efforts in her territories.
Another notable figure was Tiwanna Lovelace, an African American civil rights activist born in 1920 in Mississippi. Lovelace was a prominent member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and played a crucial role in organizing voter registration drives and desegregation efforts in the 1960s.
In the realm of literature, Tiwanna Browne is a contemporary American author known for her works exploring issues of race, identity, and relationships. Her novel "The Mothers" received critical acclaim and was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in 2017.
Tiwanna Hazelton, born in 1979, is a former professional basketball player who competed in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for teams like the Detroit Shock and the Minnesota Lynx. She was known for her defensive skills and won a WNBA championship with the Shock in 2006.
Lastly, Tiwanna Kenney is an accomplished artist and sculptor from the United States. Her works, often exploring themes of African and African American identity, have been exhibited in various galleries and museums across the country, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
People
Tiwanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tiwanna 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
Tiwanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tiwanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 232 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tiwanna 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 1,477,389 US residents.
Is Tiwanna a common name?
We classify Tiwanna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 259 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tiwanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Tiwanna was 1979, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tiwanna is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tiwanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tiwanna 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.
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.