Twania
A feminine name of unknown origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 56 living Americans carry the first name Twania. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Twania today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Twania births was 1979 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Twania. 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 Twania. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
56
~ 1 in 6,120,613 Americans
Peak year
1979
9 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1979 SSA rank
#7,292
Tracked since 1963
Popularity
Twania: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Twania from the 1960s through to the 1970s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 46 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
Twania 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 Twania 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 Twania
The given name Twania has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East, dating back to around the 3rd century BC. It is thought to be derived from the Proto-Semitic root "twyn", which means "to mark" or "to designate". In its earliest recorded form, the name appeared as "Tawaniya" in several Aramaic inscriptions found in the region of modern-day Syria.
One of the earliest known bearers of this name was Tawaniya ben Zakkai, a Jewish scholar and poet who lived in Judea during the 1st century AD. His works, which were written in Aramaic, provide some of the earliest examples of the name's usage in the ancient world.
In the centuries that followed, the name Twania spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, carried by various ethnic and religious communities. It can be found in several medieval Arabic texts, such as the "Kitab al-Aghani" (Book of Songs), where it is mentioned as the name of a female singer from the 9th century AD.
During the Islamic Golden Age, the name Twania was borne by several notable figures, including Tawaniya al-Bukhari (810-892 AD), a renowned scholar of hadith (prophetic traditions) who hailed from Bukhara, in present-day Uzbekistan. Another prominent bearer of the name was Tawaniya al-Ghazali (1058-1111 AD), a Persian philosopher, theologian, and mystic, best known for his influential work, "The Revival of the Religious Sciences".
In the Christian tradition, the name Twania can also be found in various medieval records and manuscripts. One notable example is Tawaniya of Alexandria (4th century AD), a Christian martyr and saint who was venerated in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Other historical figures with the name Twania include Tawaniya al-Dimashqi (1256-1327 AD), a Syrian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the development of trigonometry; and Tawaniya al-Andalusi (1165-1239 AD), an Andalusian poet and literary critic from Seville, who was renowned for her mastery of Arabic poetry and her influence on the literary culture of medieval Spain.
While the name Twania has its roots in the ancient Semitic languages, it has since been adopted and adapted by various cultures and communities around the world, each imbuing it with their own unique linguistic and cultural influences.
People
Twania + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Twania 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
Twania: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Twania?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 56 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Twania 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 6,120,613 US residents.
Is Twania a common name?
We classify Twania as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 63 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Twania most popular?
The single biggest year for Twania was 1979, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Twania is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Twania in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Twania a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Twania 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 Twania still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Twania 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 Twania 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Twania?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.