Tryphena
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "delicate" or "dainty".
Name Census estimates that about 93 living Americans carry the first name Tryphena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tryphena today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tryphena births was 1980 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tryphena. 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 Tryphena with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tryphena. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
93
~ 1 in 3,685,531 Americans
Peak year
1980
8 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2016 SSA rank
#18,661
Tracked since 1908
Census
Tryphena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 256 people with the first name Tryphena, which placed it at #32,700 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
#32,700
National first-name rank
People counted
256
256 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tryphena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tryphena is Black at 48.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.7%). 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 Tryphena 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 Tryphena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.0% · 123
- White30.9% · 79
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.7% · 30
- Two or more races5.5% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 10
Popularity
Tryphena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tryphena from the 1900s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 29 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Tryphena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tryphena 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 Tryphena 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 Tryphena
The name Tryphena has its origins in Ancient Greek, derived from the Greek word "tryphe," which means "delicacy" or "luxury." It is a feminine name that gained popularity during the Classical and Hellenistic periods in Greece and later in the Roman Empire.
Tryphena is mentioned in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Romans 16:12, where the Apostle Paul greets a woman by that name. This early Christian reference suggests that the name was in use during the 1st century AD among the Greek-speaking population of the Roman Empire.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tryphena was a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. According to tradition, she was martyred in Rome during the reign of Emperor Decius, around 250 AD. Her feast day is celebrated on January 10th in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
In the 4th century AD, another Tryphena was mentioned in the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea, an early Christian historian. She was a Roman noblewoman who converted to Christianity and was known for her charitable works.
During the Byzantine Empire, the name Tryphena was borne by several members of the imperial family. One notable example is Tryphena Nicetiata, who lived in the 11th century and was a sister-in-law of Emperor Michael VII Ducas.
In the 16th century, Tryphena Baptista was an Italian Renaissance poet and scholar. She was born in Bari, Italy, in 1533 and was known for her contributions to Italian literature.
Another notable bearer of the name was Tryphena Bamford, an English Quaker minister and writer who lived from 1702 to 1782. She was a prominent figure in the Quaker community and published several works on religious and moral subjects.
While the name Tryphena has its roots in Ancient Greece and the early Christian era, it has remained in use throughout history, albeit with varying degrees of popularity in different regions and time periods.
People
Tryphena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tryphena 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
Tryphena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tryphena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 93 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tryphena 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 3,685,531 US residents.
Is Tryphena a common name?
We classify Tryphena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 110 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tryphena most popular?
The single biggest year for Tryphena was 1980, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tryphena is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tryphena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 256 people with the name Tryphena, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,700 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 Tryphena 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 Tryphena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tryphena appears almost entirely female. Of the 249 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 Tryphena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tryphena is Black at 48.0%. The next largest groups are White (30.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.7%). 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 Tryphena most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tryphena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.0% (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 Tryphena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tryphena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tryphena 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 Tryphena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tryphena 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 Tryphena 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 Tryphena as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Tryphena on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.