Tawnee
Having a tawny or light tan color, like that of a deerskin.
Name Census estimates that about 730 living Americans carry the first name Tawnee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tawnee today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tawnee births was 1990 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tawnee. 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
730
~ 1 in 469,526 Americans
Peak year
1990
51 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2013 SSA rank
#11,870
Tracked since 1960
Census
Tawnee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 674 people with the first name Tawnee, which placed it at #16,648 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
#16,648
National first-name rank
People counted
674
674 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tawnee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tawnee is White at 68.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (10.1%). 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 Tawnee 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 Tawnee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.0% · 458
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 71
- Two or more races10.1% · 68
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.2% · 35
- Black or African American4.3% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 13
Popularity
Tawnee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tawnee from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 269 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tawnee 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 Tawnee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tawnees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Washington, Ohio recorded the most babies named Tawnee, while Texas, Ohio, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tawnee
The name Tawnee is believed to have its origins in the Native American languages, specifically from the Munsee language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. The name is derived from the word "tawanee," which means "little one" or "young one."
In its earliest recorded use, the name was often spelled as "Tawana" or "Tawanee." It was a common name among the Munsee people, who inhabited parts of present-day New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. The name was later adopted by other Native American tribes, particularly those in the northeastern and midwestern regions of what is now the United States.
While there are no specific historical references to the name in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been documented in various historical records and accounts related to Native American tribes and their interactions with European settlers and colonists.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tawnee was Tawnee White Calf, a prominent figure among the Cheyenne tribe in the mid-19th century. She was known for her leadership and advocacy for her people during a time of great upheaval and conflict with the encroaching white settlers.
Another notable individual was Tawnee Pah Hote, a Comanche warrior and leader who lived in the early 19th century. He played a significant role in the resistance against the expansion of American settlements into Comanche territory.
In the realm of literature, Tawnee was the name of a character in the novel "The Deerslayer" by James Fenimore Cooper, published in 1841. The character was a young Native American woman who played a pivotal role in the story.
Tawnee Sycamour, born in 1897, was a renowned artist and painter from the Choctaw Nation. Her works captured the beauty and essence of Native American culture and traditions.
Tawnee Piper, born in 1951, is an American actress and former model. She is best known for her roles in various television series and films during the 1970s and 1980s.
People
Tawnee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tawnee 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
Tawnee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tawnee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 730 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tawnee 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 469,526 US residents.
Is Tawnee a common name?
We classify Tawnee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 778 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tawnee most popular?
The single biggest year for Tawnee was 1990, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tawnee is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tawnee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 674 people with the name Tawnee, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,648 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 Tawnee 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 Tawnee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tawnee appears almost entirely female. Of the 677 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Tawnee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tawnee is White at 68.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (10.1%). 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 Tawnee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tawnee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.0% (458 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 Tawnee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tawnee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tawnee 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 Tawnee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tawnee 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 Tawnee 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 Tawnee as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.