Tel
A shortened form of names like Thelma, meaning "willful."
Name Census estimates that about 190 living Americans carry the first name Tel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tel today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tel births was 1985 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tel. 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
190
~ 1 in 1,803,970 Americans
Peak year
1985
11 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,738
Tracked since 1985
Census
Tel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 251 people with the first name Tel, which placed it at #33,109 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
#33,109
National first-name rank
People counted
251
251 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tel is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Tel 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 Tel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 188
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 17
- Black or African American6.4% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 15
- Two or more races4.4% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 4
Popularity
Tel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tel from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 64 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Tel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tel 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 Tel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tel
The name Tel has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, tracing back to ancient times. It is a shortened form of the name Telem, which is derived from the Hebrew word "telam," meaning "furrow" or "ridge." This connection to the agricultural world suggests that the name may have been associated with fertility or the earth's bounty in its early usage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tel can be found in the Hebrew Bible, where it appears as the name of a place mentioned in the Book of Joshua. This biblical reference dates back to the 6th century BCE, indicating the antiquity of the name's usage.
In ancient Israelite society, the name Tel may have been given to individuals as a nod to their connection with the land or as a reflection of their family's occupation in agriculture. However, historical records from this period are scarce, making it difficult to pinpoint specific individuals who bore this name.
As time progressed, the name Tel gained popularity and spread to other cultures and regions. In the Middle Ages, a notable figure named Tel ben Shuaib (born around 1050 CE) was a prominent Jewish philosopher and scholar from Baghdad, known for his work in the field of logic and metaphysics.
During the Renaissance period, a Jewish scholar and physician named Tel ibn Yahya (born around 1475 CE) gained recognition for his contributions to the field of medicine and his writings on various subjects, including astronomy and philosophy.
In more recent history, Tel Aviv, the modern city in Israel, was founded in 1909 and named after the Hebrew word "tel," meaning "ancient mound." This name choice was a nod to the region's rich archaeological heritage and the ancient settlements that once stood on the site.
Other notable individuals who have borne the name Tel include Tel Kaleh (1880-1963), an Iranian Kurdish writer and poet, and Tel Ingals (1888-1914), an American baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in the early 20th century.
While the name Tel may not be as widespread today as it once was, its historical roots and connections to agriculture, scholarship, and cultural heritage have left an indelible mark on the tapestry of human civilization.
People
Tel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tel 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
Tel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 190 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tel 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 1,803,970 US residents.
Is Tel a common name?
We classify Tel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tel most popular?
The single biggest year for Tel was 1985, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tel is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 251 people with the name Tel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,109 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 Tel 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 Tel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tel leans strongly male. 222 people counted with this name were male (89.9%), compared with 25 female bearers (10.1%). 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 Tel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tel is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Tel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (188 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 Tel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tel 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 Tel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tel 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 Tel 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 Tel?
See how many Americans are named Tel on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.