Tinsley
An English given name with uncertain origins, potentially derived from a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 4,452 living Americans carry the first name Tinsley. It is a predominantly female name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Tinsley today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tinsley births was 2020 (387 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tinsley. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Tinsley is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 88 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Tinsley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.5K
~ 1 in 76,989 Americans
Peak year
2020
387 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2017 SSA rank
#1,373
Tracked since 1919
Census
Tinsley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,962 people with the first name Tinsley, which placed it at #5,699 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
#5,699
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
2,962 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tinsley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tinsley is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Tinsley 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 Tinsley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 2,387
- Black or African American7.0% · 206
- Two or more races5.6% · 166
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 133
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 32
Gender
Gender distribution for Tinsley
Tinsley leans heavily female at 98.1% of total registrations, but 88 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tinsley as a male name
- Ranked #14,068 in 2017
- 5 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1920 (8 births)
Tinsley as a female name
- Ranked #1,373 in 2024
- 165 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (387 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tinsley leans strongly female. 2,778 people counted with this name were female (94.0%), compared with 176 male bearers (6.0%).
Popularity
Tinsley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tinsley 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 2,652 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tinsley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tinsley 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 Tinsley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tinsleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Florida recorded the most babies named Tinsley, while West Virginia, Oregon, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 108 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tinsley
The given name Tinsley is an English surname that has been adopted as a masculine given name. It originated from a place name in England, derived from the Old English words "tun" meaning an enclosure or homestead, and "leah" meaning a woodland clearing or meadow. Thus, the name Tinsley essentially means "meadow homestead" or "homestead in a clearing."
The name Tinsley can be traced back to the 11th century in various regions of England, particularly in Yorkshire and Lancashire. It was initially used as a locational surname for people who hailed from places called Tinsley, such as the areas now known as Tinsley in Sheffield and Tinsley Green in West Yorkshire.
While there are no known direct references to the name Tinsley in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that some early bearers of the name were mentioned in medieval English records or chronicles, given its longstanding presence as a locational surname.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the given name Tinsley was Tinsley Randolph (1691-1765), a prominent landowner and planter in colonial Virginia. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and was involved in the establishment of the city of Richmond.
Another notable figure was Tinsley Poyner (1753-1839), an American Revolutionary War soldier from North Carolina. He fought in several battles, including the Battle of Guilford Court House, and later received a land grant for his military service.
In the 19th century, Tinsley Mortimer (1818-1888) was a successful businessman and banker from Kentucky. He served as the president of the Northern Bank of Kentucky and was involved in various civic and philanthropic endeavors.
Moving into the 20th century, Tinsley Lindley (1904-1983) was an American architect known for designing several notable buildings in North Carolina, including the Durham County Courthouse and the Greensboro Historical Museum.
More recently, Tinsley Mortimer (born in 1975) is an American socialite, author, and reality television personality. She gained prominence for her involvement in New York City's social scene and appeared on the reality show "High Society."
While the name Tinsley has traditionally been used as a masculine given name, it has also gained popularity as a unisex name in recent decades, with both males and females bearing the name.
People
Tinsley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tinsley 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
Tinsley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tinsley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,452 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tinsley 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 76,989 US residents.
Is Tinsley a common name?
We classify Tinsley as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,529 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tinsley most popular?
The single biggest year for Tinsley was 2020, when 387 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tinsley is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tinsley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,962 people with the name Tinsley, or 0.98 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,699 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 Tinsley 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 Tinsley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tinsley leans strongly female. 2,778 people counted with this name were female (94.0%), compared with 176 male bearers (6.0%). 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 Tinsley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tinsley is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Tinsley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tinsley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (2,387 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 Tinsley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tinsley a female name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Tinsley 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 Tinsley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tinsley 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 Tinsley 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 the name Tinsley?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.