Talmage
A French masculine name meaning "cultivator".
Name Census estimates that about 1,083 living Americans carry the first name Talmage. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Talmage today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Talmage births was 1922 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Talmage. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 316,486 Americans
Peak year
1922
52 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,766
Tracked since 1881
Census
Talmage in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,013 people with the first name Talmage, which placed it at #12,322 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
#12,322
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,013 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Talmage
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Talmage is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Talmage 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 Talmage at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.0% · 891
- Black or African American5.6% · 57
- Two or more races2.5% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 9
Popularity
Talmage: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Talmage from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 419 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Talmage 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 Talmage during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Talmages live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Utah, North Carolina, Alabama recorded the most babies named Talmage, while Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Talmage
The given name Talmage is an English name with origins tracing back to the Old English language. It is derived from the Old English words "talu" meaning "tax" and "mann" meaning "man," suggesting it was originally a surname given to a tax collector or someone responsible for collecting taxes.
In the early medieval period, the name was commonly spelled as "Talman" or "Talemon." Over time, the spelling evolved to "Talmage" as it is known today. The name was particularly prevalent in the southern regions of England, particularly in counties like Kent and Sussex, where many early records of the name can be found.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Talmage can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings in England compiled in 1086 during the reign of William the Conqueror. This suggests the name was in use as a surname by at least the 11th century.
In terms of historical figures bearing the name Talmage, one notable example is Thomas Talmage (1832-1902), an American preacher and religious leader who served as the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City. He was widely known for his eloquent and influential sermons.
Another prominent figure was James Edward Talmage (1862-1933), a Scottish-American religious leader and scientist who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He made significant contributions to the church's teachings and authored several books on religious and scientific topics.
In the field of literature, we have Merian C. Talmage (1858-1925), an American author and journalist who wrote extensively on travel and adventure. One of his most notable works is "The Life of Lyman Trumbull," a biography of the American politician and jurist.
Another figure worth mentioning is Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832-1902), an American Presbyterian minister and religious leader who was known for his oratory skills and widely published sermons. He served as the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City and was a prominent figure in American religious life in the late 19th century.
Finally, we have John Talmage (1834-1920), an American politician and lawyer who served as the 23rd mayor of Brooklyn, New York, from 1889 to 1891. He played a significant role in the development and growth of Brooklyn during his tenure as mayor.
People
Talmage + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Talmage 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
Talmage: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Talmage?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,083 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Talmage 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 316,486 US residents.
Is Talmage a common name?
We classify Talmage as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Talmage most popular?
The single biggest year for Talmage was 1922, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Talmage is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Talmage in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,013 people with the name Talmage, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,322 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 Talmage 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 Talmage?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Talmage leans strongly male. 989 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 14 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Talmage?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Talmage is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Talmage most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Talmage in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.0% (891 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 Talmage in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Talmage a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Talmage 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 Talmage still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Talmage 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 Talmage 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 Talmage?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Talmage at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.