Tal
Tal is given to both girls and boys: 5 girls and 11 boys were given it in 2025 (#17,005 among girls’ names and #7,619 among boys’, #12,263 among all names counting both); 1,813 Americans have been recorded with it since 1937 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,700 Americans named Tal and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 34 years old and half are between 24 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tal by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tal mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tal is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “dew” (טַל).
Borrowed from Hebrew טַל (tal, “dew”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tal?
#7,619 among boys’ names, 2025
Tal fell from #5,711 in 2015 to #7,619 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 8.3 to 6.4 per million.
94 babies in 1963, the peak
Tal peaked in 1963, when 94 babies were given it (87 boys, #815 among boys’ names). The 16 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 17% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #17,005 | 11 | #7,619 |
| 2024 | under 5 | 6 | #12,177 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 11 | #7,672 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 14 | #6,433 | |
| 2021 | under 5 | 11 | #7,513 | |
| 2020 | under 5 | 6 | #11,854 | |
| 2019 | 5 | #17,697 | 7 | #10,672 |
| 2018 | 7 | #13,652 | 11 | #7,553 |
| 2017 | under 5 | 12 | #7,045 | |
| 2016 | under 5 | 11 | #7,542 |
Every recorded year (72)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | under 5 | 16 | #5,711 | |
| 2014 | under 5 | 9 | #8,706 | |
| 2013 | under 5 | 10 | #8,026 | |
| 2012 | 6 | #16,632 | 9 | #8,778 |
| 2011 | 5 | #19,290 | 10 | #7,988 |
| 2010 | 7 | #14,782 | 12 | #7,028 |
| 2009 | 6 | #17,060 | 16 | #5,768 |
| 2008 | 12 | #10,012 | 19 | #5,036 |
| 2007 | 6 | #17,399 | 26 | #3,985 |
| 2006 | 10 | #11,327 | 12 | #6,850 |
| 2005 | 13 | #8,815 | 22 | #4,166 |
| 2004 | 7 | #14,026 | 35 | #2,944 |
| 2003 | 14 | #7,949 | 29 | #3,258 |
| 2002 | 21 | #5,645 | 24 | #3,651 |
| 2001 | 15 | #7,278 | 25 | #3,494 |
| 2000 | 12 | #8,480 | 20 | #4,040 |
| 1999 | 19 | #5,630 | 30 | #2,850 |
| 1998 | 13 | #7,482 | 25 | #3,174 |
| 1997 | 17 | #5,838 | 27 | #2,889 |
| 1996 | 14 | #6,691 | 27 | #2,819 |
| 1995 | 9 | #9,458 | 17 | #3,819 |
| 1994 | 20 | #4,996 | 22 | #3,195 |
| 1993 | 19 | #5,176 | 30 | #2,493 |
| 1992 | 19 | #5,240 | 28 | #2,585 |
| 1991 | 22 | #4,628 | 32 | #2,282 |
| 1990 | 21 | #4,672 | 19 | #3,288 |
| 1989 | 23 | #4,227 | 32 | #2,194 |
| 1988 | 16 | #5,280 | 21 | #2,754 |
| 1987 | 18 | #4,641 | 19 | #2,821 |
| 1986 | 16 | #4,937 | 27 | #2,149 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,410 | 13 | #3,573 |
| 1984 | 8 | #8,070 | 20 | #2,519 |
| 1983 | 9 | #7,231 | 21 | #2,399 |
| 1982 | 9 | #7,397 | 15 | #3,088 |
| 1981 | 8 | #8,053 | 15 | #3,011 |
| 1980 | 10 | #6,730 | 20 | #2,523 |
| 1979 | 9 | #7,240 | 14 | #3,150 |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,595 | 15 | #2,913 |
| 1977 | 9 | #6,817 | 14 | #3,025 |
| 1976 | under 5 | 14 | #2,936 | |
| 1975 | 9 | #6,402 | 13 | #3,056 |
| 1974 | 11 | #5,307 | 12 | #3,103 |
| 1973 | 6 | #8,297 | 13 | #2,840 |
| 1972 | 8 | #6,477 | 11 | #3,129 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,552 | 16 | #2,455 |
| 1970 | under 5 | 15 | #2,497 | |
| 1969 | 6 | #7,365 | 14 | #2,402 |
| 1968 | 7 | #6,175 | 6 | #4,096 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,718 | 9 | #2,963 |
| 1966 | 5 | #7,494 | 18 | #1,883 |
| 1965 | under 5 | 28 | #1,479 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 48 | #1,111 | |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,827 | 87 | #815 |
| 1962 | under 5 | 12 | #2,487 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 7 | #3,620 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 11 | #2,667 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 7 | #3,579 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 6 | #3,892 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 5 | #4,338 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 6 | #3,780 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 5 | #3,963 | |
| 1937 | under 5 | 5 | #3,964 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Tal a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,813 Americans recorded as Tal, 30% are girls and 70% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Tal: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tal, and how old are they?
1,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,813 Americans ever recorded as Tal. The median Tal alive today is 34 years old; half are between 24 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 2,408 people named Tal (783 women and girls, 1,625 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,666 born in the U.S. The Census count is 45% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Tal rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 155 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 297 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 576 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 516 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 151 |
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 Tal born?
The states with the most babies named Tal are New York, California and Illinois, with 92% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 257 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| California | 177 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 13 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| New Jersey | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Texas | 8 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Louisiana | 6 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Georgia | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Mississippi | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Tal is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tal is most over-represented in New York: since 1937 it was given 2.0 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 Tal 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 2,552 babies since 1880, Tal is the most given (71% of them). In 2025 it was given to 16 of their 35 babies (46%), the second most given that year.
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 Tal
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 Tal and names like it
- Compare Tal and TalalBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sTal peaked in 1963.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tal since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Tal: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1963The year the most babies were named Tal.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Tal alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.