Tahir
An Arabic name meaning "pure" or "chaste."
Name Census estimates that about 1,888 living Americans carry the first name Tahir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tahir today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tahir births was 2023 (88 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tahir. 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 Tahir with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 181,544 Americans
Peak year
2023
88 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,912
Tracked since 1972
Census
Tahir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,683 people with the first name Tahir, which placed it at #6,085 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
#6,085
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,683 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
45.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tahir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tahir is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Black (36.2%) and White (12.2%). 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 Tahir 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 Tahir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander45.2% · 1,214
- Black or African American36.2% · 971
- White12.2% · 328
- Two or more races3.9% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 64
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Tahir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tahir from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 511 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Tahir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tahir 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 Tahir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tahirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Tahir, while Ohio, Maryland, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 90 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tahir
The name Tahir is of Arabic origin, derived from the Arabic word "tahir," which means "pure" or "virtuous." It is believed to have originated in the Middle East region during the early centuries of Islam.
The name Tahir can be traced back to the 7th century AD, when it was first used by Arab tribes in the Arabian Peninsula. As Islam spread across the region, the name gained popularity and was adopted by Muslims in various parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Tahir is found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. The name is mentioned in the context of describing the virtuous qualities of a believer, emphasizing the importance of purity and righteousness.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Tahir. One of the most prominent was Tahir ibn Husayn, a Persian military leader who founded the Tahirid dynasty in Khorasan (present-day Iran and Afghanistan) in the 9th century AD. He played a significant role in the expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate and the spread of Islamic culture in the region.
Another famous bearer of the name was Tahir al-Nuri, an Iraqi scholar and poet who lived during the 10th century AD. He was renowned for his contributions to Arabic literature and his poetic works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition.
In the 12th century, Tahir al-Silafi was a prominent Sufi mystic and philosopher from present-day Iran. His teachings and writings on Islamic mysticism and spirituality had a lasting impact on the development of Sufism in the region.
During the medieval period, the name Tahir was also associated with several rulers and military leaders, such as Tahir ibn Ziyad, a governor of Khurasan in the 8th century AD, and Tahir ibn Muhammad, a ruler of the Samanid dynasty in the 10th century AD.
In more recent times, notable figures with the name Tahir include Tahir Hussain, a Pakistani politician and former governor of Sindh province, and Tahir Shah, a British writer and traveler known for his books on spiritual journeys and cultural explorations.
People
Tahir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tahir 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
Tahir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tahir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,888 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tahir 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 181,544 US residents.
Is Tahir a common name?
We classify Tahir as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,922 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tahir most popular?
The single biggest year for Tahir was 2023, when 88 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tahir is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tahir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,683 people with the name Tahir, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,085 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 Tahir 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 Tahir?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tahir leans strongly male. 2,639 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 41 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Tahir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tahir is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Black (36.2%) and White (12.2%). 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 Tahir most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tahir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.2% (1,214 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 Tahir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tahir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tahir 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 Tahir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tahir 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 Tahir 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 are named Tahir?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.