Tevis
A masculine name of French origin meaning "estate tenant".
Name Census estimates that about 504 living Americans carry the first name Tevis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Tevis today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tevis births was 1977 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tevis. 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 Tevis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
504
~ 1 in 680,068 Americans
Peak year
1977
22 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2017 SSA rank
#10,654
Tracked since 1912
Census
Tevis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 552 people with the first name Tevis, which placed it at #19,274 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
#19,274
National first-name rank
People counted
552
552 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tevis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tevis is White at 50.7%. The next largest groups are Black (39.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Tevis 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 Tevis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.7% · 280
- Black or African American39.9% · 220
- Two or more races4.3% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Tevis
Tevis leans heavily male at 88.5% of total registrations, but 64 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tevis as a male name
- Ranked #10,654 in 2017
- 7 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1977 (22 births)
Tevis as a female name
- Ranked #12,043 in 1981
- 5 female births in 1981
- Peak: 1970 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tevis on both sides of the split. Of the 550 people counted with this name, 418 were male (76.0%) and 132 were female (24.0%).
Popularity
Tevis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tevis from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 152 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
Tevis 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 Tevis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tevis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tevis
The given name Tevis finds its origins in the Old English language, originating in the Anglo-Saxon era of Britain, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th centuries. It is believed to be derived from the Old English words "tæfes" or "tæfese," which were terms used to describe a type of game or sport played with a dice or a small cube. The name may have initially been used to refer to someone who was skilled or fond of playing such games.
In the early medieval period, the name was primarily found in regions of England where Anglo-Saxon settlements were prevalent, such as the kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria. Variations in spelling, such as "Tæfes" and "Tæfese," can be seen in ancient Anglo-Saxon records and manuscripts from that era.
While there are no known direct references to the name Tevis in major religious scriptures or ancient texts, it is possible that the name may have been mentioned in local parish records or chronicles of the time, as it was not an uncommon name among the Anglo-Saxon population.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tevis can be traced back to a historical figure named Tevis of Mercia, who lived in the 8th century and was a renowned warrior and advisor to the Mercian king Offa. Another notable bearer of the name was Tevis the Scribe, a monk and scholar who lived in the 10th century and is credited with transcribing several important manuscripts and religious texts.
In the centuries that followed, the name continued to be used, although it became less common as the influence of the Norman French language and culture spread across England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. However, some notable individuals still carried the name Tevis throughout history, including:
1. Tevis of Bury St Edmunds (c. 1170-1245), an English ecclesiastic and chronicler.
2. Tevis de Beaumont (c. 1265-1318), a French nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War.
3. Tevis Parnell (c. 1637-1717), an English writer and poet.
4. Tevis Littleton (1765-1839), an American politician and jurist who served as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.
5. Tevis Clyde Smith (1888-1968), an American novelist and playwright known for his works set in the American West.
As the name Tevis gradually fell out of widespread use, it became more of a unique and distinctive name, often associated with a sense of history and heritage for those who bore it.
People
Tevis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tevis 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
Tevis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tevis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 504 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tevis 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 680,068 US residents.
Is Tevis a common name?
We classify Tevis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 558 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tevis most popular?
The single biggest year for Tevis was 1977, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tevis is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tevis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 552 people with the name Tevis, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,274 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 Tevis 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 Tevis?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tevis on both sides of the split. Of the 550 people counted with this name, 418 were male (76.0%) and 132 were female (24.0%). 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 Tevis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tevis is White at 50.7%. The next largest groups are Black (39.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Tevis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tevis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.7% (280 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 Tevis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tevis a male name?
Yes, 88.5% of people registered as Tevis 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 Tevis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tevis 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 Tevis 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 have Tevis as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Tevis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.