Terren
Of English origin, meaning literally "from the earth" or "earthly".
Name Census estimates that about 709 living Americans carry the first name Terren. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Terren today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Terren births was 1997 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Terren. 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
709
~ 1 in 483,433 Americans
Peak year
1997
32 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,107
Tracked since 1966
Census
Terren in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 730 people with the first name Terren, which placed it at #15,675 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
#15,675
National first-name rank
People counted
730
730 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Terren
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terren is White at 40.4%. The next largest groups are Black (40.1%) and Two or More Races (9.2%). 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 Terren 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 Terren at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.4% · 295
- Black or African American40.1% · 293
- Two or more races9.2% · 67
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Terren
Terren is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 728 total registrations, 559 (76.8%) were male and 169 (23.2%) were female.
Terren as a male name
- Ranked #14,107 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1997 (27 births)
Terren as a female name
- Ranked #14,852 in 2012
- 7 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1985 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Terren on both sides of the split. Of the 734 people counted with this name, 495 were male (67.4%) and 239 were female (32.6%).
Popularity
Terren: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Terren from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 211 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Terren 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 Terren during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Terrens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Terren
The name Terren is a variant spelling of the name Terrence, which is derived from the Latin name Terentius. The name Terentius is believed to have originated from the Roman family name Terentius, which was likely derived from the Latin word "terere," meaning "to rub, to wear away."
The name Terentius was borne by the Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer, also known as Terence, who lived from around 195-159 BC. He was a prominent figure in ancient Roman literature and is considered one of the greatest comic dramatists of the Roman Republic. His plays, such as "The Eunuch" and "The Brothers," were widely popular and influential in his time.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Terren can be found in the 12th-century chronicles of England, where it appears as a variant spelling of Terrence. During the Middle Ages, the name Terren was used in various parts of Europe, including England, Ireland, and France.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Terren or its variants. Terren Peynado (1957-2022) was an American actor and writer, best known for his roles in films such as "The Substitute" and "Blow." Terren Lane (born 1985) is an American professional basketball player who has played in various leagues around the world. Terren Jones (born 1974) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA for several teams, including the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics.
Another notable bearer of the name was Terren Woolridge (1965-2003), an American professional basketball player who played in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls and the Sacramento Kings in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Terren Veldhuis (born 1981) is a Dutch professional poker player and former professional tennis player, known for his success in various poker tournaments.
While the name Terren is not as common as its more widely used variant Terrence, it has been borne by individuals across different cultures and time periods, reflecting its enduring appeal and historical significance.
People
Terren + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Terren 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
Terren: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Terren?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 709 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Terren 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 483,433 US residents.
Is Terren a common name?
We classify Terren as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 728 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Terren most popular?
The single biggest year for Terren was 1997, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Terren is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Terren in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 730 people with the name Terren, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,675 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 Terren 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 Terren?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Terren on both sides of the split. Of the 734 people counted with this name, 495 were male (67.4%) and 239 were female (32.6%). 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 Terren?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terren is White at 40.4%. The next largest groups are Black (40.1%) and Two or More Races (9.2%). 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 Terren most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Terren in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.4% (295 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 Terren in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Terren a male name?
Yes, 76.8% of people registered as Terren 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 Terren still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Terren 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 Terren 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 named Terren?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.