Tunis
Of Phoenician origin meaning "to desire, to crave".
Name Census estimates that about 12 living Americans carry the first name Tunis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tunis today is around 89 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tunis births was 1915 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tunis. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Tunis is about 89 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Tunis' were born before 1947.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tunis. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
12
~ 1 in 28,562,862 Americans
Peak year
1915
14 babies that year
Average age
89
years old
1954 SSA rank
#3,796
Tracked since 1913
Popularity
Tunis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tunis from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 63 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tunis 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 Tunis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tunis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tunis
The name Tunis has its origins in ancient Carthaginian civilization, which was located in modern-day Tunisia, North Africa. It is believed to have derived from the Phoenician word "Tun," meaning "to camp" or "to settle." This name was likely given to the city of Tunis, which was established as a Carthaginian settlement around the 8th century BC.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tunis can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman texts, where the city was referred to as "Τύνης" (Tynēs) or "Tunēs." In the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a 1st-century AD Greek navigation guide, the city is mentioned as a significant trading port in the region.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Tunis was Tunis the Elder, a Roman jurist who lived in the 2nd century AD. He is cited in the Digest of Justinian, a compilation of legal texts from the Roman Empire.
In the Middle Ages, the name Tunis was associated with the city's prominence as a center of Islamic culture and learning. One notable figure was Abu al-Abbas Ahmad al-Tunisi, a 13th-century mathematician and astronomer from Tunis, who made significant contributions to the study of optics and spherical trigonometry.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained some popularity in Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain, which had close ties with the region. One example is Tunis de Murano, a 16th-century Italian Renaissance painter and glass-maker from the island of Murano, known for his works depicting scenes from Venetian life.
In the modern era, the name Tunis has been less common as a given name, but there are still notable individuals who have carried it. For example, Tunis Craven, an 18th-century American politician and military officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Other historical figures with the name Tunis include Tunis Gulic McDermut (1874-1949), a prominent Canadian businessman and politician, and Tunis Augustus Macdonough Craven (1813-1864), an American naval officer who served in the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War.
People
Tunis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tunis 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
Tunis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tunis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tunis 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 28,562,862 US residents.
Is Tunis a common name?
We classify Tunis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 32.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 153 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tunis most popular?
The single biggest year for Tunis was 1915, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tunis is about 89 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tunis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tunis 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.
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.