Tyson
Derived from an Old French surname meaning "firebrand" or "combative person".
Name Census estimates that about 46,601 living Americans carry the first name Tyson. It sits at #460 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Tyson today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tyson births was 2009 (1,491 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tyson. 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 Tyson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tyson is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 318 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
47K
~ 1 in 7,355 Americans
Peak year
2009
1,491 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#460
Tracked since 1912
Census
Tyson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 38,795 people with the first name Tyson, which placed it at #1,071 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
#1,071
National first-name rank
People counted
39K
38,795 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tyson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyson is White at 64.4%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Two or More Races (8.4%). 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 Tyson 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 Tyson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.4% · 24,997
- Black or African American15.4% · 5,993
- Two or more races8.4% · 3,272
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 2,300
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 1,478
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 755
Gender
Gender distribution for Tyson
Out of the 48,137 babies given the name Tyson since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Tyson as a male name
- Ranked #460 in 2024
- 679 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (1,491 births)
Tyson as a female name
- Ranked #17,479 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1975 (17 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tyson appears almost entirely male. Of the 38,788 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Tyson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tyson 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 11,945 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tyson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tyson 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 Tyson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tysons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Utah, Texas recorded the most babies named Tyson, while Rhode Island, Delaware, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 893 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tyson
The name Tyson has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the surname "Tison" or "Tisson," which itself is believed to have evolved from the Old French word "tison," meaning "firebrand" or "piece of burning wood." This connection to fire and burning embers gives the name a powerful and dynamic connotation.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Tyson was primarily found in regions of England and parts of Normandy in France, where it was borne by people of Anglo-Norman descent. One of the earliest known references to the name can be traced back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded a landowner named Tisson in the county of Suffolk, England.
During the medieval period, the name Tyson gained some prominence among the nobility and landed gentry of England. One notable bearer of the name was Sir Tyson de Arden, a 13th-century knight and landowner from Warwickshire, who is mentioned in historical records from the reign of King Edward I.
In the realm of literature, the name Tyson appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's famous work, "The Canterbury Tales," written in the late 14th century. One of the characters in the tales is referred to as "Tyson the Miller," though it is unclear whether this was intended as a first name or a surname.
Moving into the modern era, several individuals with the first name Tyson have achieved notable fame and recognition. One of the most well-known is Tyson Fury, the British professional boxer who was born in 1988 and has held multiple world heavyweight championship titles.
Another prominent figure with the name Tyson is Tyson Gay, an American sprinter born in 1982, who won several Olympic and World Championship medals in the 100m and 200m events.
In the field of science, Tyson Britt is an American botanist and ecologist born in 1983, known for his research on plant communities and ecosystem dynamics.
Tyson Beckford, born in 1970, is an American fashion model and actor who has graced the covers of numerous magazines and appeared in several films and television shows.
Finally, Tyson Apostol, born in 1979, is an American reality television personality and former professional cyclist, best known for his appearances on the CBS show "Survivor."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Tyson throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence and the diverse fields in which it has been represented.
People
Tyson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tyson 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
Tyson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tyson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46,601 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tyson 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 7,355 US residents.
Is Tyson a common name?
We classify Tyson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48,137 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tyson most popular?
The single biggest year for Tyson was 2009, when 1,491 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tyson is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tyson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 38,795 people with the name Tyson, or 12.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,071 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 Tyson 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 Tyson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tyson appears almost entirely male. Of the 38,788 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Tyson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyson is White at 64.4%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Two or More Races (8.4%). 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 Tyson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tyson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.4% (24,997 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 Tyson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tyson a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Tyson 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 Tyson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tyson 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 Tyson 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 Tyson as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Tyson on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.