Tatum
A feminine name deriving from an Old English surname meaning "great or prosperous estate holder".
Name Census estimates that about 37,963 living Americans carry the first name Tatum. It sits at #195 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Tatum today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tatum births was 2024 (3,330 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tatum. 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 Tatum with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Tatum is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
38K
~ 1 in 9,029 Americans
Peak year
2024
3,330 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#195
Tracked since 1966
Census
Tatum in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 24,717 people with the first name Tatum, which placed it at #1,403 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
#1,403
National first-name rank
People counted
25K
24,717 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tatum
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tatum is White at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) 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 Tatum 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 Tatum at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.7% · 18,951
- Two or more races7.0% · 1,739
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 1,671
- Black or African American6.4% · 1,575
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 439
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 342
Gender
Gender distribution for Tatum
Tatum is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 38,455 total registrations, 11,476 (29.8%) were male and 26,979 (70.2%) were female.
Tatum as a male name
- Ranked #195 in 2024
- 1,833 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,833 births)
Tatum as a female name
- Ranked #205 in 2024
- 1,497 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,497 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tatum on both sides of the split. Of the 24,725 people counted with this name, 5,091 were male (20.6%) and 19,634 were female (79.4%).
Popularity
Tatum: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tatum from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 13,019 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tatum 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 Tatum during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tatums live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, California, Arizona recorded the most babies named Tatum, while Delaware, Wyoming, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 717 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tatum
The name Tatum is an English surname that has been adopted as a given name in more recent times. It is believed to have originated from the Old English word "tun," meaning an enclosure or a town. This name was often used as a locational surname, referring to someone who lived in a particular town or village.
Historically, the name Tatum can be traced back to the 13th century in England, where it was primarily used as a surname. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273, where it is listed as "de Tatum."
While the name Tatum does not have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been used as a given name by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest known examples is Tatum O'Neal, an American actress born in 1963, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 10 for her role in the film "Paper Moon."
Another famous bearer of the name Tatum is Channing Tatum, an American actor and producer born in 1980. He is known for his roles in various films, including "Step Up," "Magic Mike," and "21 Jump Street." His full name, Channing Matthew Tatum, reflects the use of Tatum as a surname.
In the world of sports, Tatum O'Neal, a former professional basketball player born in 1981, played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for several teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors.
Tatum Bell, born in 1981, is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for teams like the Denver Broncos and the Detroit Lions.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Tatum is Tatum Hunter, an American actress and model born in 1990, known for her roles in various television shows and films.
These examples demonstrate the diverse backgrounds and professions of individuals who have carried the name Tatum throughout history, reflecting its transition from a surname to a given name in more recent times.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tatum
People
Tatum + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tatum 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
Tatum: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tatum?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,963 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tatum 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 9,029 US residents.
Is Tatum a common name?
We classify Tatum as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38,455 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tatum most popular?
The single biggest year for Tatum was 2024, when 3,330 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tatum is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tatum in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 24,717 people with the name Tatum, or 8.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,403 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 Tatum 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 Tatum?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tatum on both sides of the split. Of the 24,725 people counted with this name, 5,091 were male (20.6%) and 19,634 were female (79.4%). 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 Tatum?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tatum is White at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) 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 Tatum most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tatum in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.7% (18,951 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 Tatum in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tatum a female name?
Yes, 70.2% of people registered as Tatum 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 Tatum still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tatum 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 Tatum 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 called Tatum?
You can see how many Americans are named Tatum on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.