Tennyson
Son of a compounder or someone who makes tents or awnings.
Name Census estimates that about 1,360 living Americans carry the first name Tennyson. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Tennyson today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tennyson births was 2017 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tennyson. 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 Tennyson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 252,025 Americans
Peak year
2017
80 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,872
Tracked since 1913
Census
Tennyson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,270 people with the first name Tennyson, which placed it at #10,477 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
#10,477
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,270 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tennyson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tennyson is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (14.8%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Tennyson 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 Tennyson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.4% · 830
- Black or African American14.8% · 188
- Two or more races6.9% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.7% · 72
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Tennyson
Tennyson is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,555 total registrations, 1,165 (74.9%) were male and 390 (25.1%) were female.
Tennyson as a male name
- Ranked #3,872 in 2024
- 29 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (48 births)
Tennyson as a female name
- Ranked #12,015 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (43 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tennyson on both sides of the split. Of the 1,269 people counted with this name, 920 were male (72.5%) and 349 were female (27.5%).
Popularity
Tennyson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tennyson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 646 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tennyson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tennyson 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 Tennyson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tennysons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, California, Colorado recorded the most babies named Tennyson, while Utah, North Carolina, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tennyson
Tennyson is an English given name that originates from the Old English surname "Tennyson", which is derived from the words "tener" meaning "tenant" and "sunu" meaning "son". The name likely arose as a descriptive name for someone whose father or ancestor was a tenant farmer or landowner.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tennyson dates back to the late 16th century, though it was initially used as a surname. One of the earliest notable individuals with the name was Thomas Tennyson (1638-1705), an English clergyman and the great-grandfather of the famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was undoubtedly the most famous bearer of the name. He was the Poet Laureate of Great Britain and is considered one of the greatest English poets of the Victorian era. Some of his most famous works include "In Memoriam A.H.H.", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", and "Idylls of the King".
Another notable individual with the name was Sir Charles Tennyson (1808-1879), an English colonial administrator and politician who served as the 12th Governor of Victoria, Australia. He was also the younger brother of Alfred Tennyson.
Hallam Tennyson (1920-2005) was an English writer and biographer who served as the 2nd Governor-General of Australia from 1965 to 1972. He was a descendant of Alfred Tennyson and wrote several biographies on his famous ancestor.
Merlyn Tennyson (1907-1957) was a British artist and painter, known for her portraits and landscape paintings. She was also a distant relative of Alfred Tennyson and was named after the character of Merlyn from the poet's "Idylls of the King".
While the name Tennyson was initially an English surname, it gained popularity as a given name in the 19th century, likely due to the fame and influence of Alfred Tennyson's works. The name has been used predominantly in English-speaking countries and is associated with literary and artistic circles.
People
Tennyson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tennyson 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
Tennyson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tennyson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,360 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tennyson 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 252,025 US residents.
Is Tennyson a common name?
We classify Tennyson as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,555 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tennyson most popular?
The single biggest year for Tennyson was 2017, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tennyson is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tennyson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,270 people with the name Tennyson, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,477 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 Tennyson 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 Tennyson?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tennyson on both sides of the split. Of the 1,269 people counted with this name, 920 were male (72.5%) and 349 were female (27.5%). 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 Tennyson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tennyson is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (14.8%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Tennyson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tennyson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.4% (830 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 Tennyson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tennyson a male name?
Yes, 74.9% of people registered as Tennyson 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 Tennyson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tennyson 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 Tennyson 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 Tennyson?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.