Tabbitha
A feminine name of Aramaic origin meaning "gracious" or "gazelle".
Name Census estimates that about 667 living Americans carry the first name Tabbitha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tabbitha today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tabbitha births was 1991 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tabbitha. 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 Tabbitha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
667
~ 1 in 513,875 Americans
Peak year
1991
42 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2014 SSA rank
#18,916
Tracked since 1966
Census
Tabbitha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 606 people with the first name Tabbitha, which placed it at #17,943 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
#17,943
National first-name rank
People counted
606
606 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tabbitha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tabbitha is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (6.8%). 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 Tabbitha 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 Tabbitha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.6% · 470
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 47
- Black or African American6.8% · 41
- Two or more races5.8% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
Popularity
Tabbitha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tabbitha from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 254 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tabbitha 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 Tabbitha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tabbithas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Ohio, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Tabbitha, while Illinois, California, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tabbitha
The name Tabbitha is derived from the Aramaic word "tavitha," which means "gazelle." It is believed to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which is now modern-day Iraq, Syria, and parts of Turkey. The name has been recorded in various forms, including Tabitha, Tabatha, and Tabetha, over the centuries.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Tabbitha is found in the New Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Acts, there is a woman named Dorcas or Tabitha, who was a disciple of Jesus and was known for her charitable works. She lived in the city of Joppa (now Jaffa, Israel) and was raised from the dead by the apostle Peter.
During the Middle Ages, the name Tabbitha was relatively uncommon in Europe, but it did appear in some historical records. One notable bearer of the name was Tabbitha of Arles, a Christian martyr who lived in the 4th century AD in what is now southern France.
In the 16th century, the name Tabbitha gained some popularity among Puritans in England. One of the earliest recorded instances was Tabbitha Marbury, born in 1583, who was the sister of Anne Hutchinson, a prominent figure in the Antinomian Controversy in colonial Massachusetts.
Another notable figure with the name Tabbitha was Tabbitha Brackett, an American Puritan midwife and healer who lived in the late 17th century in what is now Maine. She was known for her skill in delivering babies and treating various ailments.
In the 18th century, Tabbitha Tenney was an American educator and author who wrote one of the earliest books on grammar for children, titled "The American Instructor's Assistant," published in 1784.
During the 19th century, the name Tabbitha remained relatively uncommon, but there were still a few notable individuals who bore it. One example was Tabbitha Fisk, an American abolitionist and teacher who was active in the anti-slavery movement in the mid-1800s.
Overall, while not a widely popular name throughout history, Tabbitha has had a notable presence in various cultures and time periods, particularly in religious and historical contexts. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, and it has been used in various forms across different regions and eras.
People
Tabbitha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tabbitha 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
Tabbitha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tabbitha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 667 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tabbitha 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 513,875 US residents.
Is Tabbitha a common name?
We classify Tabbitha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 699 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tabbitha most popular?
The single biggest year for Tabbitha was 1991, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tabbitha is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tabbitha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 606 people with the name Tabbitha, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,943 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 Tabbitha 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 Tabbitha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tabbitha appears almost entirely female. Of the 600 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Tabbitha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tabbitha is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (6.8%). 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 Tabbitha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tabbitha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.6% (470 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 Tabbitha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tabbitha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tabbitha 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 Tabbitha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tabbitha 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 Tabbitha 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 have the name Tabbitha?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Tabbitha at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.