Tamisha
A feminine name of ambiguous origin, potentially deriving from French.
Name Census estimates that about 2,044 living Americans carry the first name Tamisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tamisha today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tamisha births was 1974 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tamisha. 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 Tamisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 167,688 Americans
Peak year
1974
122 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2007 SSA rank
#15,313
Tracked since 1968
Census
Tamisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,833 people with the first name Tamisha, which placed it at #8,035 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
#8,035
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,833 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tamisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamisha is Black at 82.4%. The next largest groups are White (6.8%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Tamisha 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 Tamisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.4% · 1,511
- White6.8% · 124
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 101
- Two or more races4.1% · 76
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 8
Popularity
Tamisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tamisha from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 882 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tamisha 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 Tamisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tamishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Tamisha, while Virginia, South Carolina, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tamisha
Tamisha is a feminine given name of uncertain origin, but it is believed to have its roots in various African and Arabic languages. The name may have derived from the Arabic word "tamash," which means "to walk with grace or elegance." It could also be a variation of the Swahili name "Tamesha," which means "one who is adorned."
One theory suggests that Tamisha may have originated from the Wolof language spoken in Senegal, West Africa. In Wolof, the name "Tamis" means "beautiful" or "attractive." The addition of the suffix "-ha" could have been a way to create a feminine form of the name.
Another possibility is that Tamisha is a combination of the Arabic name "Tamara" and the Hebrew name "Misha," both of which were popular in ancient times. Tamara means "date palm tree," while Misha is a diminutive form of the name Michael, meaning "who is like God."
The earliest recorded use of the name Tamisha is difficult to pinpoint, as it gained popularity relatively recently. However, some historical figures who bore this name include:
1. Tamisha Rice (born 1979), an American professional basketball player who played in the WNBA for several teams.
2. Tamisha Wrigley (born 1984), a British singer and songwriter best known for her participation in the reality TV show "The X Factor" in 2004.
3. Tamisha Akbar (born 1984), an American fashion designer and entrepreneur known for her inclusive and sustainable clothing line.
4. Tamisha Williams (born 1977), an American actress and comedian who has appeared in various television shows and films.
5. Tamisha Mukluk (born 1980), an Inuit artist and illustrator from Canada, known for her children's books depicting Inuit culture and traditions.
While the name Tamisha has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States and other English-speaking countries, its origins remain somewhat shrouded in mystery. Nonetheless, its unique sound and potential connections to various cultures and languages have contributed to its widespread use as a given name.
People
Tamisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tamisha 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
Tamisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tamisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,044 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tamisha 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 167,688 US residents.
Is Tamisha a common name?
We classify Tamisha as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tamisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Tamisha was 1974, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tamisha is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tamisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,833 people with the name Tamisha, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,035 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 Tamisha 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 Tamisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tamisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,831 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Tamisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamisha is Black at 82.4%. The next largest groups are White (6.8%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Tamisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tamisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (1,511 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 Tamisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tamisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tamisha 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 Tamisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tamisha 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 Tamisha 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 Tamisha?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Tamisha on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.