Tu
A Vietnamese masculine given name meaning "integrity" or "dignity".
Name Census estimates that about 410 living Americans carry the first name Tu. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 73.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Tu today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tu births was 1984 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tu. 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
410
~ 1 in 835,986 Americans
Peak year
1984
32 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2011 SSA rank
#12,165
Tracked since 1978
Census
Tu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,487 people with the first name Tu, which placed it at #3,292 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
#3,292
National first-name rank
People counted
6.5K
6,487 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Tu 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 Tu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.8% · 6,278
- White1.5% · 98
- Two or more races0.7% · 44
- Black or African American0.5% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Tu
Tu is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 427 total registrations, 313 (73.3%) were male and 114 (26.7%) were female.
Tu as a male name
- Ranked #12,165 in 2011
- 6 male births in 2011
- Peak: 1987 (25 births)
Tu as a female name
- Ranked #17,941 in 2018
- 5 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1990 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tu on both sides of the split. Of the 6,480 people counted with this name, 3,773 were male (58.2%) and 2,707 were female (41.8%).
Popularity
Tu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tu from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 225 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tu 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 Tu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tus live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tu
The name Tu has its roots in several ancient languages and cultures, with various meanings and origins. It is believed to have originated in China, where it was a common name given to both men and women.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tu can be found in the Chinese classic text, the Analects of Confucius, written around the 5th century BC. In this text, Tu is mentioned as the name of a disciple of Confucius.
The name Tu also has connections to ancient Vietnamese culture. In Vietnamese, the word "Tu" means "virtue" or "moral excellence." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who were expected to uphold high ethical standards.
In ancient India, the name Tu was associated with the Hindu goddess Tara, who was revered as the embodiment of compassion and liberation. Some scholars believe that the name Tu may have been derived from the name Tara, which could have been an abbreviation or variation.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tu in history is Tu Shunzhi, who was the first emperor of the Qing dynasty in China. He reigned from 1644 to 1661. Another notable figure was Tu Fu, a renowned Chinese poet who lived during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) and is considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese literature.
In ancient Greece, the name Tu was sometimes used as a shortened form of the name Tukidides, which was derived from the Greek word "tykhe," meaning "luck" or "fortune." The famous historian Thucydides, who lived in the 5th century BC and is known for his work "The Peloponnesian War," bore this name.
During the Roman era, the name Tu was occasionally used as a shortened form of the Latin name Tullius or Tullus. One notable figure was Marcus Tullius Cicero, the famous Roman orator, philosopher, and statesman who lived in the 1st century BC.
In ancient Egypt, the name Tu was sometimes used as a variant of the name Tut, which was associated with the famous boy-king Tutankhamun, who ruled during the 18th dynasty (c. 1332-1323 BC). The name Tut is believed to have meant "living image" or "incarnation" in ancient Egyptian.
These are just a few examples of the historical and cultural significance of the name Tu, which has been used across various civilizations and time periods, often carrying meanings related to virtue, morality, luck, or divine associations.
People
Tu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tu 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
Tu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 410 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tu 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 835,986 US residents.
Is Tu a common name?
We classify Tu as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 427 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tu most popular?
The single biggest year for Tu was 1984, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tu is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,487 people with the name Tu, or 2.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,292 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 Tu 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 Tu?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tu on both sides of the split. Of the 6,480 people counted with this name, 3,773 were male (58.2%) and 2,707 were female (41.8%). 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 Tu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Tu most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.8% (6,278 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 Tu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tu a male name?
Yes, 73.3% of people registered as Tu in the SSA data are male. 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 Tu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tu 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 Tu 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 Americans are named Tu?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Tu, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.