Tupou
Tongan name meaning "sacred" or "tabu".
Name Census estimates that about 17 living Americans carry the first name Tupou. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Tupou today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tupou births was 1995 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tupou. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tupou. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
17
~ 1 in 20,162,020 Americans
Peak year
1995
6 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2005 SSA rank
#13,224
Tracked since 1995
Census
Tupou in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 255 people with the first name Tupou, which placed it at #32,783 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
#32,783
National first-name rank
People counted
255
255 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
89.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tupou
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tupou is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Tupou 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 Tupou at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander89.8% · 229
- Two or more races4.7% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 8
- White2.0% · 5
- Black or African American0.4% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Tupou
Tupou is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 17 total registrations, 5 (29.4%) were male and 12 (70.6%) were female.
Tupou as a male name
- Ranked #13,224 in 2005
- 5 male births in 2005
- Peak: 2005 (5 births)
Tupou as a female name
- Ranked #16,840 in 2010
- 6 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1995 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tupou on both sides of the split. Of the 251 people counted with this name, 96 were male (38.2%) and 155 were female (61.8%).
Popularity
Tupou: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tupou from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6 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
Tupou 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 Tupou 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 Tupou
The name Tupou originates from the Tongan language, which is spoken in the Polynesian islands of Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean. It has been a prominent name in Tonga for centuries, with its earliest recorded usage dating back to the 12th century.
Tupou is believed to be derived from the Tongan words "tupu," meaning to grow or arise, and "ou," which can refer to an object or entity. The name is often interpreted as "to arise" or "to grow," carrying connotations of growth, prosperity, and emergence.
In Tongan culture, the name Tupou has been closely associated with the ruling monarchy. Several Tongan kings and members of the royal family have borne this name throughout history, including:
1. Tupou I (1797-1893), the first King of Tonga to unite the islands under a constitutional monarchy.
2. Tupou II (1874-1918), who reigned from 1893 to 1918 and oversaw the establishment of Tonga's parliament.
3. Tupou III (1913-1965), who ruled from 1918 to 1965 and was instrumental in maintaining Tonga's independence during World War II.
4. Tupou IV (1918-2006), the longest-reigning monarch in Tonga's history, serving from 1965 to 2006.
5. Tupou V (1948-2012), who reigned from 2006 until his death in 2012.
Beyond the royal lineage, the name Tupou has been widely used by commoners in Tonga as well. It has been documented in various historical records, including genealogical accounts and oral traditions passed down through generations.
While the name Tupou has its roots in Tonga, it has also gained recognition and usage in other parts of the world, particularly among Polynesian communities and those with connections to Tongan culture and heritage. Its distinctive sound and rich cultural significance have contributed to its enduring popularity.
People
Tupou + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tupou 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
Tupou: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tupou?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tupou 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 20,162,020 US residents.
Is Tupou a common name?
We classify Tupou as "Very Rare". It ranks above 37.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tupou most popular?
The single biggest year for Tupou was 1995, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tupou is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tupou in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 255 people with the name Tupou, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,783 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 Tupou 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 Tupou?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tupou on both sides of the split. Of the 251 people counted with this name, 96 were male (38.2%) and 155 were female (61.8%). 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 Tupou?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tupou is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Tupou most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tupou in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.8% (229 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 Tupou in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tupou a female name?
Yes, 70.6% of people registered as Tupou 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 Tupou still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tupou 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 Tupou 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 share the name Tupou?
Want to know how many people have the name Tupou? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.