Find out how popular the last name Tatum is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Tatum.

Tatum, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Tatum surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tatum in America

Tatum is the 1451st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tatum surname appeared 24,558 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 8 people would have the surname Tatum.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tatum to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Tatum

The surname Tatum is of English origin, originating from the Old English personal name "Tata", which is thought to have derived from the Old English word "Tate", meaning a pleasant or cheerful person. The name was likely adopted as a surname during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Tatum surname can be found in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, which lists a Richard Tatum residing in Norfolk, England. The surname was also present in other early records, such as the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1301, where a John Tatum was mentioned.

The Tatum surname was particularly prevalent in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire in England during the medieval period. It is believed that the name may have been derived from a place name or topographical feature, as was common with many English surnames of that era.

One notable historical figure bearing the Tatum surname was John Tatum (c. 1554-1616), an English clergyman and author who served as the Archdeacon of Bedford. Another early example is Robert Tatum (1600-1672), an English merchant and member of the Virginia Company who played a significant role in the early colonization of Virginia.

In the 17th century, several members of the Tatum family emigrated from England to the American colonies, including John Tatum (1615-1675), who settled in Virginia in 1635, and William Tatum (1628-1711), who arrived in Pennsylvania in the late 1600s. These early settlers helped establish the Tatum name in the New World.

One of the most famous individuals with the Tatum surname was Champ Tatum (1888-1945), an American baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians in the early 20th century. Another notable figure was Sidney Tatum (1892-1982), an American microbiologist and biochemist who made significant contributions to the understanding of bacterial metabolism and antibiotic resistance.

Other notable individuals with the Tatum surname include Edward Tatum (1909-1975), an American geneticist and biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958 for his work on genetic regulation in bacteria, and Jack Tatum (1948-2010), a former American football player who played as a safety for the Oakland Raiders in the NFL during the 1970s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tatum

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Tatum.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Tatum was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Tatum has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Tatum was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Tatum, please contact us.

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