Tulsa
An English place name derived from Creek Indigenous words meaning "town".
Name Census estimates that about 151 living Americans carry the first name Tulsa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tulsa today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tulsa births was 2023 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tulsa. 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
151
~ 1 in 2,269,896 Americans
Peak year
2023
38 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,575
Tracked since 1914
Census
Tulsa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 230 people with the first name Tulsa, which placed it at #35,134 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
#35,134
National first-name rank
People counted
230
230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tulsa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tulsa is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.4%) and Black (8.3%). 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 Tulsa 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 Tulsa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.3% · 134
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.4% · 47
- Black or African American8.3% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 13
- Two or more races4.8% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 6
Popularity
Tulsa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tulsa from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 113 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tulsa 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 Tulsa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tulsas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tulsa
The name Tulsa has its origins in the Creek language, spoken by the Creek or Muscogee people, a Native American tribe that inhabited areas of what is now the southeastern United States. The name is derived from the Creek words "tula" meaning "town" and "sawanogi" meaning "from the old," suggesting a connection to an old or abandoned settlement.
In the early 19th century, the Creek people were forcibly relocated from their ancestral lands in Alabama and Georgia to Indian Territory, which would later become part of Oklahoma. During this period, a group of Creek settlers established a new town along the Arkansas River, which they named Tulsa, drawing from the Creek words that reflected its ties to their ancestral homeland.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tulsa dates back to 1836, when it was documented in a report by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. As the settlement grew, the name Tulsa became more widely recognized and used to refer to the area.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Tulsa. One of the earliest was Tulsa-Micco (c. 1800-1857), a prominent Creek chief who played a significant role in the tribe's negotiations with the United States government during the forced relocation known as the Trail of Tears.
Another notable figure was Tulsa Russell (1835-1923), a Creek entrepreneur and rancher who established one of the largest cattle operations in Indian Territory. His success helped to shape the economic development of the region that would become Oklahoma.
In the 20th century, Tulsa Williams (1919-2003) gained recognition as a renowned painter and sculptor from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Her artwork celebrated the cultural traditions and heritage of her people, and she was widely acclaimed for her contributions to Native American art.
Tulsa Kinney (1905-1998) was a prominent baseball player who spent several seasons in the Negro Leagues, showcasing his talents as a skilled outfielder and baserunner during a time when segregation prevented African American athletes from participating in Major League Baseball.
More recently, Tulsa Greenwood (1948-2019) was a respected activist and community leader who worked tirelessly to preserve the history and legacy of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was once a thriving center of African American commerce and culture before being devastated by the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
People
Tulsa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tulsa 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
Tulsa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tulsa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tulsa 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 2,269,896 US residents.
Is Tulsa a common name?
We classify Tulsa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tulsa most popular?
The single biggest year for Tulsa was 2023, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tulsa is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tulsa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 230 people with the name Tulsa, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,134 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 Tulsa 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 Tulsa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tulsa on both sides of the split. Of the 234 people counted with this name, 75 were male (32.1%) and 159 were female (67.9%). 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 Tulsa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tulsa is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.4%) and Black (8.3%). 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 Tulsa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tulsa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.3% (134 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 Tulsa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tulsa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tulsa 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 Tulsa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tulsa 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 Tulsa 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 Tulsa?
See how many Americans are named Tulsa on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.