Talik
A masculine Arabic name meaning "one who follows" or "follower".
Name Census estimates that about 266 living Americans carry the first name Talik. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Talik today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Talik births was 2003 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Talik. 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.
People living today
266
~ 1 in 1,288,550 Americans
Peak year
2003
26 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,718
Tracked since 1992
Census
Talik in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 229 people with the first name Talik, which placed it at #35,223 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
#35,223
National first-name rank
People counted
229
229 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Talik
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Talik is Black at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Talik 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 Talik at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.5% · 198
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 11
- Two or more races4.4% · 10
- White3.1% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Talik: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Talik from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 150 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Talik 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 Talik during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taliks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Talik
The name Talik has its origins rooted in the ancient Sumerian civilization, which flourished in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 4500 BCE. Talik is derived from the Sumerian word "tal," meaning "life," and "ik," which signifies "to give." Thus, the name Talik carries the meaning of "giver of life" or "one who brings life."
In the historical records of Sumer, the name Talik is found engraved on clay tablets, primarily associated with individuals who held significant roles in the community, such as priestesses, midwives, or healers. It is believed that the name was bestowed upon those who played a pivotal role in the birth and nurturing of life, reflecting the reverence for fertility and the continuity of the human lineage in Sumerian culture.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Talik can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem dating back to the third millennium BCE. In this epic, Talik is described as a skilled midwife who assisted the goddess Aruru in the creation of the mighty hero Enkidu.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Talik. One such figure was Talik of Lagash (circa 2400 BCE), a renowned priestess and healer in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash. Her contributions to the preservation of ancient medicinal knowledge and her dedication to the goddess Ninsun earned her a revered status in her time.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Talik the Scribe (circa 1800 BCE), a skilled calligrapher and scholar from the ancient city of Babylon. His intricate cuneiform inscriptions adorned the walls of temples and royal palaces, documenting the histories and wisdom of the Babylonian civilization.
In the realm of mythology, Talik was also the name of a legendary healer and herbalist in the folklore of the ancient Hittite civilization (circa 1600 BCE). Her knowledge of medicinal plants and her ability to cure ailments were celebrated in numerous folktales and oral traditions passed down through generations.
During the medieval period, Talik al-Isfahani (circa 1050 CE) was a renowned astronomer and mathematician from the city of Isfahan, in present-day Iran. His contributions to the study of celestial bodies and the development of advanced mathematical techniques were widely recognized and influential in the Islamic Golden Age.
The name Talik has transcended cultures and epochs, carrying with it the essence of life, healing, and the pursuit of knowledge. Although its usage may have evolved over time, the name continues to evoke a deep connection to the ancient roots of human civilization and the reverence for those who nurture and preserve life in all its forms.
People
Talik + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Talik 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
Talik: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Talik?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 266 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Talik 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 1,288,550 US residents.
Is Talik a common name?
We classify Talik as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 270 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Talik most popular?
The single biggest year for Talik was 2003, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Talik is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Talik in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 229 people with the name Talik, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,223 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 Talik 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 Talik?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Talik leans strongly male. 224 people counted with this name were male (96.6%), compared with 8 female bearers (3.4%). 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 Talik?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Talik is Black at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Talik most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Talik in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.5% (198 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 Talik in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Talik a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Talik 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 Talik still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Talik 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 Talik 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 common is the name Talik?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Talik at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.