Tehya
A Hebrew name meaning "revived" or "reborn".
Name Census estimates that about 2,017 living Americans carry the first name Tehya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tehya today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tehya births was 1998 (164 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tehya. 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 Tehya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 169,933 Americans
Peak year
1998
164 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,875
Tracked since 1989
Census
Tehya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,702 people with the first name Tehya, which placed it at #8,517 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
#8,517
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,702 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tehya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tehya is White at 38.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (21.0%) and Black (14.3%). 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 Tehya 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 Tehya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.8% · 661
- Two or more races21.0% · 357
- Black or African American14.3% · 244
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 212
- American Indian and Alaska Native10.8% · 184
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 44
Popularity
Tehya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tehya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,024 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
Tehya 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 Tehya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tehyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, Texas, Oregon recorded the most babies named Tehya, while South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tehya
The name Tehya is believed to have its origins in the Hebrew language, and it is thought to have been derived from the Hebrew word "chayah," which means "life" or "to live." This name is therefore associated with the concepts of vitality, existence, and the celebration of life itself.
Tehya is a feminine name, and its earliest recorded use dates back to ancient times in the Middle East, particularly in the region that is now known as Israel and Palestine. The name is found in various historical and religious texts from this region, including the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Jewish writings.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tehya was Tehya bat Avraham, a Jewish scholar and poet who lived in the 12th century CE in Spain. She was renowned for her expertise in Hebrew literature and her contributions to the field of Jewish studies.
Another notable figure with the name Tehya was Tehya Lerner, a Zionist activist and one of the founders of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. She was born in 1900 in what was then the Russian Empire and played a significant role in the establishment of the Kibbutz movement in Palestine.
In the 20th century, Tehya Feldman was a prominent figure in the Zionist movement and the establishment of the State of Israel. She was born in 1899 in Ukraine and became a member of the Jewish underground resistance during World War II, helping to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.
The name Tehya also appeared in the works of renowned Jewish authors and poets, such as Hayim Nahman Bialik, who included a character named Tehya in his famous poem "Al HaShchitah" (On the Slaughter).
Another notable figure with the name Tehya was Tehya Kushner, a Russian-born Israeli artist and sculptor who lived from 1904 to 1988. Her works, which often explored themes of the human form and the Jewish experience, are widely celebrated in the art world.
While the name Tehya has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture and tradition, it has also gained popularity in more recent times, particularly among Jewish communities around the world. However, it is important to note that the historical and cultural significance of this name lies primarily in its connection to the rich tapestry of Jewish history and literature.
People
Tehya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tehya 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
Tehya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tehya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,017 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tehya 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 169,933 US residents.
Is Tehya a common name?
We classify Tehya as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,051 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tehya most popular?
The single biggest year for Tehya was 1998, when 164 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tehya is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tehya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,702 people with the name Tehya, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,517 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 Tehya 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 Tehya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tehya appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,694 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Tehya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tehya is White at 38.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (21.0%) and Black (14.3%). 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 Tehya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tehya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.8% (661 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 Tehya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tehya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tehya 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 Tehya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tehya 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 Tehya 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 Tehya?
Want to know how many Americans are named Tehya? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.