Tal
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "morning dew".
Name Census estimates that about 1,696 living Americans carry the first name Tal. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Tal today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tal births was 1963 (94 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tal. 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 Tal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 202,096 Americans
Peak year
1963
94 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,137
Tracked since 1937
Census
Tal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,412 people with the first name Tal, which placed it at #6,605 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
#6,605
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,412 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tal is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.4%) and Black (2.8%). 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 Tal 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 Tal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.8% · 2,117
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 107
- Black or African American2.8% · 68
- Two or more races2.4% · 58
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Tal
Tal is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,797 total registrations, 1,254 (69.8%) were male and 543 (30.2%) were female.
Tal as a male name
- Ranked #12,137 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1963 (87 births)
Tal as a female name
- Ranked #17,691 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1989 (23 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tal on both sides of the split. Of the 2,408 people counted with this name, 1,625 were male (67.5%) and 783 were female (32.5%).
Popularity
Tal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tal from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 430 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
Tal 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 Tal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Tal, while Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tal
The name Tal has its origins in Hebrew and Arabic languages. It is a masculine given name that has been in use for centuries.
In Hebrew, the name Tal is derived from the word "tal" which means "dew" or "morning dew." It is associated with freshness, purity, and renewal. The name has been mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, particularly in the Book of Job, where it is used as a metaphor for the transient nature of life.
In Arabic, the name Tal has a similar meaning, referring to "dew" or "moisture." It is also related to the word "tala'a," meaning "to rise" or "to ascend," symbolizing growth and progress.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tal is Tal ben Reuben, a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Numbers as one of the leaders of the Israelite tribe of Gad during the Exodus from Egypt.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Tal. One of the most famous is Tal Wilkenfeld, an Australian bassist and singer who has collaborated with renowned musicians like Jeff Beck, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock. She was born in 1986.
Another prominent figure is Tal Brody, an Israeli-American basketball player who led the Israeli national team to victory in the 1977 European Basketball Championship. He was born in 1943 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in Israeli basketball history.
Tal Hanani was an Israeli artist and sculptor known for his large-scale public sculptures. He was born in 1938 and his works can be found in various cities around the world, including Jerusalem and New York.
Tal Rosner is an Israeli computer scientist and entrepreneur who co-founded the cybersecurity company CyberArk. He was born in 1973 and has been recognized for his contributions to the field of information security.
In ancient times, Tal Shilhav was a prominent figure in ancient Israel during the reign of King David, serving as one of his military commanders and advisors, as mentioned in the Books of Samuel and Chronicles.
People
Tal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tal 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
Tal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,696 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tal 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 202,096 US residents.
Is Tal a common name?
We classify Tal as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,797 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tal most popular?
The single biggest year for Tal was 1963, when 94 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tal is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,412 people with the name Tal, or 0.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,605 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 Tal 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 Tal?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tal on both sides of the split. Of the 2,408 people counted with this name, 1,625 were male (67.5%) and 783 were female (32.5%). 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 Tal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tal is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.4%) and Black (2.8%). 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 Tal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (2,117 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 Tal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tal a male name?
Yes, 69.8% of people registered as Tal 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 Tal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tal 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 Tal 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 Tal?
Find out how many Americans are named Tal on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.