Tyreke
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "ruler" or "the tough one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,411 living Americans carry the first name Tyreke. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tyreke today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tyreke births was 1999 (220 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tyreke. 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 Tyreke with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 242,916 Americans
Peak year
1999
220 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,194
Tracked since 1981
Census
Tyreke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,143 people with the first name Tyreke, which placed it at #11,307 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
#11,307
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tyreke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyreke is Black at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.0%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Tyreke 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 Tyreke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.3% · 963
- Two or more races9.0% · 103
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 30
- White2.4% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
Popularity
Tyreke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tyreke from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 634 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tyreke 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 Tyreke during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tyrekes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. New York, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Tyreke, while Michigan, District of Columbia, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tyreke
The given name Tyreke is a relatively modern coinage, with its origins being uncertain. It appears to be a combination of the prefix "Tyr-" or "Tyre-," which may be derived from the word "tyre," referring to the rubber wheel component, and the suffix "-eke," which could be a variation of the common name suffix "-eke" or "-ike."
While the exact etymology of Tyreke is unclear, there are a few potential theories. One possibility is that it is a inventive blend of the names Tyrone and Reginald, combining elements from both names. Another theory suggests that it may be inspired by the ancient city of Tyre, a Phoenician settlement located in modern-day Lebanon, although the connection is tenuous.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Tyreke date back to the late 20th century, with some of the earliest known individuals bearing this name being born in the 1980s and 1990s. Due to its relatively recent emergence, there are no known historical references to Tyreke in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or notable historical records.
One of the earliest and most prominent individuals with the name Tyreke is Tyreke Evans, an American professional basketball player born in 1989. He was selected as the 4th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings and has also played for the New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies.
Another notable person named Tyreke is Tyreke Upshaw, an American football player born in 1999. He played as a defensive back for the University of Louisville and was a member of the team that won the 2022 Fenway Bowl.
Tyreke Blakeney, born in 1989, is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the defensive line coach for the University of Illinois. He played college football at the University of Cincinnati.
Tyreke Powell is an American basketball player born in 1998. He played college basketball for the Penn State Nittany Lions and was named to the All-Big Ten Defensive Team in 2022.
Tyreke Jones, born in 1988, is an American basketball coach and former player. He played college basketball at Southern Methodist University and has worked as an assistant coach for various college teams, including Florida Atlantic University and Texas A&M University-Commerce.
While the name Tyreke is relatively new and its origins are uncertain, it has gained some recognition and popularity in recent years, primarily in the United States, with individuals bearing this name achieving success in various fields, particularly in sports.
People
Tyreke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tyreke 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
Tyreke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tyreke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tyreke 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 242,916 US residents.
Is Tyreke a common name?
We classify Tyreke as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,433 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tyreke most popular?
The single biggest year for Tyreke was 1999, when 220 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tyreke is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tyreke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,143 people with the name Tyreke, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,307 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 Tyreke 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 Tyreke?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tyreke leans strongly male. 1,132 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 12 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Tyreke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyreke is Black at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.0%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Tyreke most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tyreke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.3% (963 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 Tyreke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tyreke a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tyreke 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 Tyreke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tyreke 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 Tyreke 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 Tyreke?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.