Tekia
A feminine name of Hawaiian origin meaning "mountain ridge".
Name Census estimates that about 357 living Americans carry the first name Tekia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tekia today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tekia births was 1985 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tekia. 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
357
~ 1 in 960,096 Americans
Peak year
1985
23 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2006 SSA rank
#16,950
Tracked since 1975
Census
Tekia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 347 people with the first name Tekia, which placed it at #26,696 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
#26,696
National first-name rank
People counted
347
347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tekia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tekia is Black at 91.1%. The next largest groups are White (3.7%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Tekia 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 Tekia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.1% · 316
- White3.7% · 13
- Two or more races3.5% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Tekia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tekia from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 161 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tekia 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 Tekia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tekias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tekia
The given name Tekia is believed to have its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, specifically in the region that is now modern-day Iraq. It is derived from the Akkadian word "tekitu," which means "trust" or "confidence." The name first appeared in cuneiform inscriptions dating back to around 2500 BCE, making it one of the oldest recorded names in human history.
One of the earliest known references to the name Tekia can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian epic poem that is considered one of the earliest surviving works of literature. In the epic, Tekia is mentioned as the name of a priestess who served in the temple of the goddess Ishtar.
During the reign of the Akkadian Empire (c. 2350 - 2150 BCE), the name Tekia gained popularity among the ruling class. One notable bearer of the name was Tekia, the daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, who is believed to have lived around 2300 BCE.
In the ancient Hebrew scriptures, there is a reference to a woman named Tekia who was a member of the tribe of Judah. She is mentioned in the Book of Chronicles, which was likely written sometime between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE.
Throughout the centuries, the name Tekia has been borne by various individuals from different cultures and backgrounds. In the 9th century CE, there was a Persian philosopher and poet named Tekia al-Kindi, who is known for his contributions to the fields of mathematics and music theory.
Another notable bearer of the name was Tekia al-Bukhari, a 12th-century Muslim scholar and jurist from Bukhara, who is best known for her work on Islamic jurisprudence and hadith studies.
During the Renaissance period, there was an Italian painter named Tekia Vecellio, who was active in the late 16th century and is known for her portraits of Venetian nobility.
In the 19th century, Tekia Kara Mustafa was a Ottoman statesman and grand vizier who served under Sultan Abdülmecid I from 1837 to 1839.
Finally, in the 20th century, Tekia Merghani was a Sudanese politician and women's rights activist who played a significant role in the fight for Sudan's independence from British colonial rule.
People
Tekia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tekia 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
Tekia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tekia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 357 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tekia 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 960,096 US residents.
Is Tekia a common name?
We classify Tekia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 377 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tekia most popular?
The single biggest year for Tekia was 1985, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tekia 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 Tekia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 347 people with the name Tekia, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,696 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 Tekia 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 Tekia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tekia leans strongly female. 343 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Tekia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tekia is Black at 91.1%. The next largest groups are White (3.7%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Tekia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tekia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.1% (316 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 Tekia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tekia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tekia 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 Tekia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tekia 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 Tekia 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 Tekia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.