Tayshawn
Of uncertain origin, perhaps from the Gaelic term "taidh" meaning "fire."
Name Census estimates that about 1,294 living Americans carry the first name Tayshawn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tayshawn today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tayshawn births was 2006 (128 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tayshawn. 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 Tayshawn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 264,880 Americans
Peak year
2006
128 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,845
Tracked since 1991
Census
Tayshawn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 998 people with the first name Tayshawn, which placed it at #12,453 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
#12,453
National first-name rank
People counted
998
998 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tayshawn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tayshawn is Black at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.4%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Tayshawn 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 Tayshawn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American77.0% · 768
- Two or more races13.4% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 39
- White3.3% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Tayshawn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tayshawn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 821 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
Tayshawn 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 Tayshawn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tayshawns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Michigan, Ohio, Florida recorded the most babies named Tayshawn, while Wisconsin, Tennessee, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tayshawn
The given name Tayshawn is a relatively modern invention, believed to have originated in the late 20th century within African American communities in the United States. It does not have a clear linguistic origin or etymology rooted in an established language or culture.
The name Tayshawn is thought to be a combination of the common English names Taylor and Shawn, blending their sounds and spellings. Taylor is an English surname derived from the occupational term for a tailor or maker of garments. Shawn is an anglicized form of the Irish name Seán, which stems from the Hebrew name Yohanan meaning "God is gracious."
There are no known historical references or recorded examples of the name Tayshawn prior to the late 20th century. Its usage appears to have emerged organically within certain communities, likely as a creative and unique variation on more traditional names.
While the name Tayshawn itself has no ancient or historical figures associated with it, here are five notable individuals who have borne this first name:
1. Tayshawn Prince (born 1992), American professional basketball player who played in the NBA G League.
2. Tayshawn Landry (born 1988), American former professional basketball player who played in various international leagues.
3. Tayshawn Rover (born 1998), American football cornerback who played for the University of Southern Mississippi.
4. Tayshawn Calhoun (born 1989), American former professional basketball player who played in various international leagues.
5. Tayshawn Thomas (born 1993), American former professional basketball player who played in various international leagues.
These individuals span various fields, primarily sports, and their dates of birth range from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, reflecting the modern nature of the name Tayshawn within the United States.
People
Tayshawn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tayshawn 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
Tayshawn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tayshawn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,294 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tayshawn 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 264,880 US residents.
Is Tayshawn a common name?
We classify Tayshawn as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,309 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tayshawn most popular?
The single biggest year for Tayshawn was 2006, when 128 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tayshawn is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tayshawn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 998 people with the name Tayshawn, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,453 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 Tayshawn 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 Tayshawn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tayshawn leans strongly male. 979 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 21 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Tayshawn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tayshawn is Black at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.4%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Tayshawn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tayshawn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (768 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 Tayshawn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tayshawn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tayshawn in the SSA data are male. 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 Tayshawn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tayshawn 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 Tayshawn 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 common is the name Tayshawn?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Tayshawn, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.