Tad
Tad was given to 11 boys in 2025, #7,615 among boys’ names; 6,929 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,720 Americans named Tad and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 52 years old and half are between 39 and 61.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tad by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tad mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tad is “a diminutive of the male given name Thaddeus or Thaddaeus.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tad?
#7,615 among boys’ names, 2025
Tad fell from #5,952 in 2015 to #7,615 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 7.8 to 6.4 per million.
265 babies in 1966, the peak
Tad peaked in 1966, when 265 boys were given it, #471 among boys’ names. The 11 births of 2025 are 4% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 | #7,615 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 11 | #7,693 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 14 | #6,462 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 11 | #7,696 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 13 | #6,626 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 10 | #7,980 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 17 | #5,526 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 17 | #5,509 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 11 | #7,477 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 18 | #5,286 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (112)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 15 | #5,952 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 20 | #4,842 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 19 | #4,952 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 21 | #4,656 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 23 | #4,335 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 9 | #8,700 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 25 | #4,145 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 22 | #4,516 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 31 | #3,498 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 36 | #3,076 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 37 | #2,889 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 35 | #2,943 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 31 | #3,101 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 38 | #2,592 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 32 | #2,915 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 31 | #2,906 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 29 | #2,926 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 29 | #2,839 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 47 | #1,958 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 58 | #1,665 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 66 | #1,469 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 75 | #1,347 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 88 | #1,200 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 79 | #1,274 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 110 | #1,031 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 92 | #1,124 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 108 | #980 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 108 | #922 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 103 | #932 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 133 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 128 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1984 | 130 | #762 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 76 | #1,021 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 65 | #1,138 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 84 | #992 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 100 | #899 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 104 | #853 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 116 | #789 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 137 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1976 | 146 | #687 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 169 | #621 | 0.11 |
| 1974 | 171 | #616 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 158 | #633 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 160 | #622 | 0.10 |
| 1971 | 184 | #617 | 0.10 |
| 1970 | 197 | #576 | 0.11 |
| 1969 | 169 | #604 | 0.09 |
| 1968 | 205 | #534 | 0.12 |
| 1967 | 220 | #507 | 0.13 |
| 1966 | 265 | #471 | 0.15 |
| 1965 | 223 | #510 | 0.12 |
| 1964 | 187 | #579 | 0.09 |
| 1963 | 169 | #604 | 0.08 |
| 1962 | 157 | #616 | 0.08 |
| 1961 | 122 | #692 | 0.06 |
| 1960 | 145 | #647 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 133 | #663 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 137 | #658 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 149 | #631 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 125 | #674 | 0.06 |
| 1955 | 89 | #777 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 49 | #1,075 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 43 | #1,135 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 25 | #1,545 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 27 | #1,451 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 25 | #1,496 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 16 | #1,933 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 26 | #1,454 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 26 | #1,475 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 18 | #1,749 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 16 | #1,763 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 17 | #1,725 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 27 | #1,363 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 22 | #1,530 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,077 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 20 | #1,567 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,529 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,311 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #3,962 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,603 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 13 | #2,118 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,247 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 21 | #1,538 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 19 | #1,705 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 6 | #3,713 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,555 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 19 | #1,786 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,824 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,740 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,550 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 12 | #2,570 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,875 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,185 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,218 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,965 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,227 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,730 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,729 | under 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,507 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,291 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,208 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 5 | #2,863 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Tad a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Tad has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 112 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Tad: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tad, and how old are they?
5,720 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 83% of the 6,929 Americans ever recorded as Tad. The median Tad alive today is 52 years old; half are between 39 and 61.
The 2020 Census counted 5,844 people named Tad (37 women and girls, 5,807 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,944 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 58 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,380 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,430 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 468 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 186 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Tad born?
The states with the most babies named Tad are California, Illinois and Ohio, with 38% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 591 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 375 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 344 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 262 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Texas | 245 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Washington | 188 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Indiana | 156 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Minnesota | 145 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Wisconsin | 139 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 135 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Tad is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tad is most over-represented in Utah: since 1912 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Tad with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 8,386 babies since 1880, Tad is the most given (83% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Tad
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Tad and names like it
- Compare Tad and TaddBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sTad peaked in 1966.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tad since 1910.
- The top names of 1966The year the most babies were named Tad.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Tad alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with TMost given first.