Tehilla
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "praise" or "song of praise".
Name Census estimates that about 568 living Americans carry the first name Tehilla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tehilla today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tehilla births was 2021 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tehilla. 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 Tehilla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
568
~ 1 in 603,441 Americans
Peak year
2021
40 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,863
Tracked since 1992
Census
Tehilla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 395 people with the first name Tehilla, which placed it at #24,413 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
#24,413
National first-name rank
People counted
395
395 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tehilla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tehilla is White at 93.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.8%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Tehilla 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 Tehilla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.7% · 370
- Black or African American3.8% · 15
- Two or more races1.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 1
Popularity
Tehilla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tehilla from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 202 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tehilla remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tehilla 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 Tehilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tehillas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Maryland recorded the most babies named Tehilla, while Maryland, New Jersey, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 111 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tehilla
Tehilla is a Hebrew name derived from the word "tehillah," which means "praise" or "song of praise" in the Hebrew language. The name has its roots in ancient Jewish culture and religious traditions.
The name can be traced back to the biblical text of the Book of Psalms, also known as "Tehillim" in Hebrew, which is a collection of sacred poems and hymns praising God. The word "tehillah" appears frequently throughout the Psalms, reflecting the devotional nature of these poetic compositions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tehilla can be found in the Book of Chronicles, part of the Hebrew Bible. It mentions a woman named Tehilla, who was a prophetess during the time of the prophet Ezra in the 5th century BCE.
Throughout history, the name Tehilla has been associated with various notable figures within Jewish communities. One such individual was Tehilla Lichtenstein (1783-1831), a renowned Jewish scholar and author from Lithuania, who wrote extensively on the Torah and Jewish law.
Another famous bearer of the name was Tehilla Abramov (1888-1972), a Jewish writer and educator from Russia. She was a pioneer in advocating for women's education and played a significant role in establishing Jewish schools in the early 20th century.
In more recent times, Tehilla Neville (born 1965) is an Israeli singer and songwriter who has gained popularity for her fusion of traditional Jewish melodies with contemporary styles. Her music often reflects themes of spirituality and praise.
Tehilla Goldberg (1920-2007) was a Holocaust survivor and educator from Poland. She dedicated her life to sharing her experiences during the Holocaust and promoting awareness about the atrocities of that period.
The name Tehilla has also been associated with various artistic and literary works. For example, "Tehilla" is the title of a poem by the acclaimed Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, which explores themes of praise and gratitude.
People
Tehilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tehilla 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
Tehilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tehilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 568 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tehilla 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 603,441 US residents.
Is Tehilla a common name?
We classify Tehilla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 575 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tehilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Tehilla was 2021, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tehilla 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 Tehilla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 395 people with the name Tehilla, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,413 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 Tehilla 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 Tehilla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tehilla appears almost entirely female. Of the 394 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Tehilla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tehilla is White at 93.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.8%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Tehilla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tehilla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.7% (370 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 Tehilla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tehilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tehilla 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 Tehilla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tehilla 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 Tehilla 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 share the name Tehilla?
You can see how many Americans are named Tehilla on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.