Tammi
A feminine diminutive form of the name Tamara, meaning "palm tree" in Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 11,909 living Americans carry the first name Tammi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tammi today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tammi births was 1968 (874 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tammi. 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 Tammi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,781 Americans
Peak year
1968
874 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2013 SSA rank
#16,343
Tracked since 1950
Census
Tammi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,200 people with the first name Tammi, which placed it at #2,173 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
#2,173
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,200 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tammi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tammi is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.9%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Tammi 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 Tammi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.4% · 9,931
- Black or African American10.9% · 1,330
- Two or more races3.2% · 394
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 263
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 182
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 100
Popularity
Tammi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tammi from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 6,514 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
Tammi 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 Tammi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tammis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the most babies named Tammi, while Wyoming, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 247 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tammi
The name Tammi is a diminutive form of the Finnish name Tamara, which is derived from the Old Hebrew name Tamar, meaning "date palm tree." The name Tamar is found in the Bible, where it refers to several different women, including the daughter-in-law of Judah and an Israelite woman who married a non-Israelite man.
The name Tammi is believed to have originated in Finland, where it was used as a feminine form of the name Taimi, which means "seedling" or "sprout." The name Tammi first became popular in Finland in the late 19th century, and it was often used as a shortened form of Tamara or as a standalone name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tammi was in the 18th century, when a Finnish woman named Tammi Kaarina Friberg was born in 1743. Another notable early bearer of the name was Tammi Sivonen, a Finnish author and journalist who lived from 1865 to 1944.
Throughout history, several famous women have been named Tammi. One of the most well-known is Tammi Terrell, an American singer who was born in 1945 and tragically died at the age of 24 in 1970. She is best known for her duets with Marvin Gaye, including the hit song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."
Another notable Tammi was Tammi Duckworth, an American politician and former military officer who was born in 1968. Duckworth served in the Iraq War and lost both of her legs in combat. She went on to become the first Thai-American woman elected to Congress and is currently serving as a United States Senator from Illinois.
Other famous Tammis include Tammi Bray, an Australian model and actress born in 1964; Tammi Chynn, an American pop singer and songwriter born in 1970; and Tammi Reiss, an American actress and model born in 1975.
While the name Tammi may have originated in Finland, it has since spread to other parts of the world and has been embraced by people of various cultural backgrounds. Its connection to the Old Hebrew name Tamar and its association with nature and growth have made it a popular choice for parents seeking a unique and meaningful name for their daughter.
People
Tammi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tammi 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
Tammi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tammi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,909 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tammi 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 28,781 US residents.
Is Tammi a common name?
We classify Tammi as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,884 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tammi most popular?
The single biggest year for Tammi was 1968, when 874 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tammi is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tammi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,200 people with the name Tammi, or 4.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,173 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 Tammi 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 Tammi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tammi appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,201 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 Tammi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tammi is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.9%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Tammi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tammi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.4% (9,931 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 Tammi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tammi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tammi 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 Tammi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tammi 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 Tammi 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 Tammi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.