Tania
A feminine name of Russian origin meaning "fairy queen".
Name Census estimates that about 26,871 living Americans carry the first name Tania. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tania today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tania births was 1993 (857 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tania. 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 Tania with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tania is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 61 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
27K
~ 1 in 12,756 Americans
Peak year
1993
857 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1995 SSA rank
#1,932
Tracked since 1918
Census
Tania in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 42,283 people with the first name Tania, which placed it at #1,011 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
#1,011
National first-name rank
People counted
42K
42,283 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
61.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tania
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tania is Hispanic at 61.5%. The next largest groups are White (21.7%) and Black (10.8%). 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 Tania 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 Tania at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino61.5% · 25,994
- White21.7% · 9,178
- Black or African American10.8% · 4,574
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 1,676
- Two or more races1.7% · 734
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 127
Gender
Gender distribution for Tania
Out of the 28,857 babies given the name Tania since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Tania as a male name
- Ranked #8,758 in 1995
- 6 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1993 (11 births)
Tania as a female name
- Ranked #1,932 in 2024
- 103 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (846 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tania appears almost entirely female. Of the 42,281 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tania: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tania from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6,179 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
Tania 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 Tania during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tanias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Tania, while New Hampshire, Idaho, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 534 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tania
The name Tania is a diminutive form of the Russian name Tatiana, which is derived from the ancient Roman name Tatius. The name Tatius comes from the Latin word "tatus," meaning "to season" or "to preserve." The name Tatiana was popularized in Christian tradition as the name of a 3rd-century Roman deacon and martyr, St. Tatiana.
The name Tania gained widespread use in Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly after the 17th century. It was a popular name among the Russian nobility and aristocracy. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tania was in the 18th century, when it was borne by Tania Tolstaya, the daughter of the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910).
In the 19th century, the name Tania was made famous by the character Tania Larina in Alexander Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin." Pushkin (1799-1837) is considered one of the greatest Russian poets and is often referred to as the "father of Russian literature."
Another notable figure with the name Tania was Tania Savicheva (1930-1944), a young Russian partisan who fought against the Nazi invaders during World War II. She became a symbol of resistance and courage in Soviet Russia and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
In the 20th century, the name gained popularity outside of Russia and Eastern Europe. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Tania Mallet (1941-2019), an English model and actress who appeared in the James Bond film "Goldfinger" in 1964.
Tania was also the name of Tania Raymonde (born 1988), an American actress known for her roles in popular TV shows like "Lost" and "Goliath." Another notable Tania was Tania Leon (born 1943), a Cuban-American composer and conductor who has made significant contributions to contemporary classical music.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tania
People
Tania + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tania 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
Tania: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tania?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26,871 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tania 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 12,756 US residents.
Is Tania a common name?
We classify Tania as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28,857 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tania most popular?
The single biggest year for Tania was 1993, when 857 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tania is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tania in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 42,283 people with the name Tania, or 14.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,011 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 Tania 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 Tania?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tania appears almost entirely female. Of the 42,281 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 Tania?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tania is Hispanic at 61.5%. The next largest groups are White (21.7%) and Black (10.8%). 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 Tania most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Tania in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.5% (25,994 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 Tania in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tania a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Tania 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 Tania still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tania 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 Tania 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 Tania?
Find out how many Americans are named Tania on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.