Tamara
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "date palm tree".
Name Census estimates that about 114,280 living Americans carry the first name Tamara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tamara today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tamara births was 1970 (4,733 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tamara. 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 Tamara with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tamara is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 417 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Tamara have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
114K
~ 1 in 2,999 Americans
Peak year
1970
4,733 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2002 SSA rank
#1,757
Tracked since 1917
Census
Tamara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 128,722 people with the first name Tamara, which placed it at #439 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
#439
National first-name rank
People counted
129K
128,722 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
42.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tamara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamara is White at 69.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and Hispanic (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 Tamara 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 Tamara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.1% · 88,925
- Black or African American18.9% · 24,332
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 8,689
- Two or more races3.7% · 4,717
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1,168
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 891
Gender
Gender distribution for Tamara
Out of the 131,587 babies given the name Tamara since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tamara as a male name
- Ranked #12,285 in 2002
- 5 male births in 2002
- Peak: 1974 (23 births)
Tamara as a female name
- Ranked #1,757 in 2024
- 115 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (4,721 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tamara appears almost entirely female. Of the 128,711 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tamara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tamara from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 39,116 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tamara 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 Tamara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tamaras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Ohio, New York recorded the most babies named Tamara, while Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,522 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tamara
The name Tamara is thought to have originated from the Old Hebrew language, derived from the word "tamar" meaning "date palm tree" or "palm tree". It is believed to have first emerged in ancient Israel during the biblical era.
The earliest known historical reference to the name Tamara comes from the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, where it is mentioned as a place name. In the 8th century BC, the ancient city of Tamar was located near the southern border of ancient Israel.
The name Tamara started gaining popularity as a feminine given name during the Middle Ages, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name being used as a personal name was Tamara of Georgia, a Georgian princess who lived in the 12th century.
In the 13th century, Tamara became a renowned figure in Russian folklore and literature, thanks to the epic poem "The Tale of the Ruse of Prince Igor". The poem features a character named Tamara, who is described as a beautiful and brave woman.
Another notable historical figure with the name Tamara was Tamara de Lempicka, a Polish Art Deco painter who lived from 1898 to 1980. She was known for her bold and stylized paintings of wealthy and influential figures.
During the Renaissance period, the name Tamara gained popularity in Italy, where it was sometimes spelled as "Tamar" or "Tamera". One notable Italian figure with this name was Tamara de' Lardis, a 16th-century poet and writer.
In the 19th century, the name Tamara became popular in Russia and Eastern Europe once again, thanks in part to the popularity of the novel "Demon" by Mikhail Lermontov, which featured a character named Tamara.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tamara
People
Tamara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tamara 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
Tamara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tamara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 114,280 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tamara 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 2,999 US residents.
Is Tamara a common name?
We classify Tamara as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 131,587 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tamara most popular?
The single biggest year for Tamara was 1970, when 4,733 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tamara is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tamara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 128,722 people with the name Tamara, or 42.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #439 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 Tamara 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 Tamara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tamara appears almost entirely female. Of the 128,711 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Tamara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamara is White at 69.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and Hispanic (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 Tamara most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tamara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.1% (88,925 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 Tamara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tamara a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Tamara 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 Tamara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tamara 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 Tamara 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 Tamara?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.