Tanajah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "tree branch".
Name Census estimates that about 294 living Americans carry the first name Tanajah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tanajah today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tanajah births was 2003 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tanajah. 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
294
~ 1 in 1,165,831 Americans
Peak year
2003
26 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2015 SSA rank
#16,229
Tracked since 1992
Census
Tanajah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 231 people with the first name Tanajah, which placed it at #35,041 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
#35,041
National first-name rank
People counted
231
231 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
94.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tanajah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanajah is Black at 94.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.0%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Tanajah 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 Tanajah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American94.8% · 219
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 7
- Two or more races2.2% · 5
Popularity
Tanajah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tanajah from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 181 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
Tanajah 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 Tanajah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tanajahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tanajah
The name Tanajah is a unique and intriguing one, with its origins shrouded in mystery. It is believed to have originated from the ancient Sumerian civilization, which flourished in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3500 BC to 1900 BC. The name itself may have been derived from the Sumerian words "tana" meaning "life" and "jah" signifying "greatness" or "divine power."
While there are no definitive records of the name's appearance in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some scholars have speculated that it may have been used in ceremonial rituals or as a title for revered individuals within the Sumerian society. The earliest known recorded instance of the name Tanajah dates back to the reign of King Shulgi of the Ur III dynasty, around 2094 BC to 2047 BC.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Tanajah. One of the earliest known was Tanajah of Uruk, a prominent priestess and scholar who lived during the 7th century BC in ancient Mesopotamia. Her contributions to the study of astronomy and astrology were highly regarded in her time.
Another figure was Tanajah ibn al-Muqri, a renowned Arab mathematician and astronomer who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century AD. He made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry and authored several influential treatises on celestial mechanics.
In the 12th century, Tanajah al-Andalusi was a celebrated poet and philosopher from the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal). Her works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition, were widely read and admired across the Islamic world.
Jumping forward to the 15th century, Tanajah Begum was a powerful ruler of the Lodi dynasty in the Delhi Sultanate. Known for her political acumen and military prowess, she played a crucial role in expanding the empire's territories and influencing the cultural landscape of the region.
More recently, Tanajah Everett was an American civil rights activist and educator who lived from 1909 to 1987. She dedicated her life to advocating for equal rights and educational opportunities for underprivileged communities, leaving a lasting impact on the struggle for social justice.
While the name Tanajah may not be as common today, its rich historical roots and the remarkable individuals who have borne it serve as a testament to its enduring legacy and the profound impact it has had across various cultures and eras.
People
Tanajah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tanajah 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
Tanajah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tanajah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 294 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tanajah 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 1,165,831 US residents.
Is Tanajah a common name?
We classify Tanajah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 300 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tanajah most popular?
The single biggest year for Tanajah was 2003, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tanajah 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 Tanajah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 231 people with the name Tanajah, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,041 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 Tanajah 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 Tanajah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanajah appears almost entirely female. Of the 231 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Tanajah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanajah is Black at 94.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.0%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Tanajah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tanajah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.8% (219 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 Tanajah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tanajah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tanajah 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 Tanajah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tanajah 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 Tanajah 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 have Tanajah as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Tanajah, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.