Trinh
A Vietnamese feminine name possibly meaning "pure" or "virtuous".
Name Census estimates that about 424 living Americans carry the first name Trinh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Trinh today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Trinh births was 1982 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Trinh. 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
424
~ 1 in 808,383 Americans
Peak year
1982
27 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2015 SSA rank
#12,921
Tracked since 1976
Census
Trinh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,795 people with the first name Trinh, which placed it at #3,558 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
#3,558
National first-name rank
People counted
5.8K
5,795 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
98.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Trinh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trinh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (0.8%) and White (0.5%). 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 Trinh 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 Trinh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander98.4% · 5,700
- Two or more races0.8% · 47
- White0.5% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 10
- Black or African American0.2% · 9
Popularity
Trinh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Trinh from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 187 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Trinh 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 Trinh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Trinhs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Trinh, while Louisiana, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Trinh
The given name Trinh is of Vietnamese origin. It first appeared in the 10th century during the Ly Dynasty, which ruled over the region now known as Vietnam from 1009 to 1225 CE. The name is derived from the Vietnamese word "trinh," meaning "chaste" or "pure."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Trinh was Trinh Tuan, a revered Buddhist monk and scholar who lived during the 11th century. He is known for his contributions to Vietnamese literature and philosophy, including his influential work "The Way of Zen."
In the 16th century, the Trinh Lords, a powerful family clan, ruled over the northern regions of Vietnam. Notable figures from this era include Trinh Kiem (1508-1570), a military commander and strategist, and Trinh Tung (1601-1657), who served as the de facto ruler of the Trinh Lords' domain.
During the 17th century, Trinh Thi Ngoc Truc (1608-1678) was a renowned poet and writer from the Trinh Lords' court. Her collection of poetry, "The Subtle Fragrance of Wood and Flowers," is considered a masterpiece of Vietnamese literature.
In more recent history, Trinh Cong Son (1939-2001) was a highly influential Vietnamese musician and songwriter. His compositions, which blended traditional Vietnamese music with modern elements, played a significant role in shaping the country's contemporary music scene.
Another notable figure was Trinh Xuan Thuan (born 1948), a Vietnamese-American astrophysicist and author. He is known for his work in exploring the origins and evolution of the universe and has written several popular science books, including "The Quantum and the Lotus."
While these are just a few examples, the given name Trinh has a rich history dating back to ancient Vietnam and has been carried by numerous influential individuals throughout the centuries.
People
Trinh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Trinh 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
Trinh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Trinh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 424 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Trinh 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 808,383 US residents.
Is Trinh a common name?
We classify Trinh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 443 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Trinh most popular?
The single biggest year for Trinh was 1982, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Trinh is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Trinh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,795 people with the name Trinh, or 1.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,558 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 Trinh 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 Trinh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Trinh leans strongly female. 5,066 people counted with this name were female (87.4%), compared with 733 male bearers (12.6%). 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 Trinh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trinh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (0.8%) and White (0.5%). 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 Trinh most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Trinh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.4% (5,700 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 Trinh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Trinh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Trinh 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 Trinh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Trinh 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 Trinh 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 Trinh?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Trinh at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.