Tyr
An Old Norse name representing the god of war and heroic glory.
Name Census estimates that about 474 living Americans carry the first name Tyr. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tyr today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tyr births was 2023 (69 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tyr. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Tyr with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
474
~ 1 in 723,110 Americans
Peak year
2023
69 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,515
Tracked since 2002
Census
Tyr in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 300 people with the first name Tyr, which placed it at #29,484 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
#29,484
National first-name rank
People counted
300
300 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tyr
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyr is White at 62.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.7%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Tyr 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 Tyr at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.3% · 187
- Two or more races13.7% · 41
- Black or African American11.0% · 33
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 5
Popularity
Tyr: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tyr from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 258 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
Tyr 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 Tyr during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tyrs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Indiana, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Tyr, while Washington, Ohio, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tyr
The name Tyr has its origins in Old Norse mythology, where it referred to the god of war and justice. It is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "Tiwaz," which is believed to have originated from the Proto-Indo-European root "*deyw-o," meaning "sky" or "god."
In Norse mythology, Tyr was one of the principal gods, known for his courage, honor, and willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good. He was associated with law, justice, and oaths, and was often depicted as a one-handed god, having sacrificed his hand to the monstrous wolf Fenrir.
The name Tyr appears in various ancient texts and historical records related to Norse mythology and culture. It is found in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems, and the Prose Edda, a work by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson, which provides a comprehensive account of Norse mythology.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Tyr can be found in the Gallehus Horns, a pair of golden horns discovered in Denmark, dating back to around 400 CE. The horns feature an inscription that includes the name "Tyr."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Tyr or variations of it. One such person was Tyr Anor (c. 980 - c. 1020), a Viking warrior and explorer from Greenland, who is believed to have explored parts of North America.
Another famous bearer of the name was Tyr Heyerdahl (1914 - 2002), a Norwegian explorer and ethnographer best known for his Kon-Tiki expedition, where he sailed across the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft to demonstrate the possibility of ancient transoceanic voyages.
In Greek mythology, there is a figure named Tyrios, who was believed to be the son of Hermes and Aglauros. He is associated with the founding of the city of Tyre in Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon).
The name also appears in the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. Here, Tyr is mentioned as a powerful and respected warrior in the service of the Pandavas.
Finally, Tyr was the name of a prominent leader of the Jutes, a Germanic tribe that settled in parts of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries CE. He is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and is believed to have played a role in the establishment of the Kingdom of Kent.
People
Tyr + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tyr 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
Tyr: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tyr?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 474 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tyr 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 723,110 US residents.
Is Tyr a common name?
We classify Tyr as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 478 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tyr most popular?
The single biggest year for Tyr was 2023, when 69 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tyr is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tyr in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 300 people with the name Tyr, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,484 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 Tyr 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 Tyr?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tyr leans strongly male. 286 people counted with this name were male (95.0%), compared with 15 female bearers (5.0%). 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 Tyr?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyr is White at 62.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.7%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Tyr most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tyr in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.3% (187 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 Tyr in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tyr a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tyr 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 Tyr still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tyr 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 Tyr 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 Tyr?
Find out how many Americans are named Tyr on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.