Tam
Tam is given to both girls and boys: 5 girls and 5 boys were given it in 2025 (#17,011 among girls’ names and #13,665 among boys’, #17,034 among all names counting both); 1,889 Americans have been recorded with it since 1924 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,760 Americans named Tam and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 24 and 45.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tam by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tam mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tam is “a diminutive of the female given name Tamara.”
Also “a diminutive of the female given name Tamsin.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tam?
#13,665 among boys’ names, 2025
Tam fell from #7,966 in 2015 to #13,665 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 5.2 to 2.9 per million.
64 babies in 1982, the peak
Tam peaked in 1982, when 64 babies were given it (46 boys, #1,407 among boys’ names). The 10 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 16% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #17,011 | 5 | #13,665 |
| 2024 | under 5 | 6 | #12,180 | |
| 2023 | 9 | #11,077 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 5 | #17,493 | under 5 | |
| 2021 | 6 | #15,062 | 5 | #13,839 |
| 2020 | 5 | #17,267 | 11 | #7,435 |
| 2019 | 6 | #15,370 | 8 | #9,632 |
| 2018 | 10 | #10,479 | 12 | #7,077 |
| 2017 | 6 | #15,733 | 10 | #8,069 |
| 2016 | 11 | #10,044 | 10 | #8,080 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 9 | #11,742 | 10 | #7,966 |
| 2014 | 12 | #9,467 | 8 | #9,518 |
| 2013 | 11 | #10,176 | 7 | #10,592 |
| 2012 | 11 | #10,352 | 11 | #7,487 |
| 2011 | under 5 | 11 | #7,442 | |
| 2010 | 17 | #7,479 | 7 | #10,616 |
| 2009 | 11 | #10,601 | 14 | #6,387 |
| 2008 | 16 | #8,069 | 19 | #5,037 |
| 2007 | 10 | #11,543 | 19 | #4,962 |
| 2006 | 11 | #10,541 | 14 | #6,055 |
| 2005 | 13 | #8,817 | 18 | #4,795 |
| 2004 | 10 | #10,598 | 19 | #4,575 |
| 2003 | 10 | #10,353 | 14 | #5,510 |
| 2002 | 21 | #5,646 | 18 | #4,467 |
| 2001 | 19 | #6,038 | 18 | #4,443 |
| 2000 | 12 | #8,481 | 16 | #4,754 |
| 1999 | 6 | #14,238 | 17 | #4,311 |
| 1998 | 11 | #8,511 | 20 | #3,687 |
| 1997 | 11 | #8,274 | 12 | #5,233 |
| 1996 | 13 | #7,084 | 20 | #3,531 |
| 1995 | 9 | #9,464 | 28 | #2,668 |
| 1994 | 11 | #8,067 | 20 | #3,444 |
| 1993 | 9 | #9,456 | 28 | #2,628 |
| 1992 | 18 | #5,450 | 30 | #2,453 |
| 1991 | 7 | #11,383 | 29 | #2,453 |
| 1990 | 15 | #6,099 | 36 | #2,077 |
| 1989 | 17 | #5,255 | 35 | #2,059 |
| 1988 | 19 | #4,634 | 26 | #2,347 |
| 1987 | 13 | #5,890 | 33 | #1,930 |
| 1986 | 22 | #3,876 | 33 | #1,868 |
| 1985 | 15 | #5,051 | 35 | #1,757 |
| 1984 | 18 | #4,303 | 41 | #1,527 |
| 1983 | 21 | #3,792 | 33 | #1,743 |
| 1982 | 18 | #4,324 | 46 | #1,407 |
| 1981 | 12 | #5,859 | 31 | #1,857 |
| 1980 | 14 | #5,215 | 20 | #2,524 |
| 1979 | 8 | #7,962 | 19 | #2,554 |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,599 | 8 | #4,516 |
| 1977 | 7 | #8,336 | 7 | #5,062 |
| 1976 | 7 | #8,027 | 20 | #2,318 |
| 1975 | 5 | #10,408 | 12 | #3,215 |
| 1974 | 6 | #8,618 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 6 | #8,300 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 7 | #7,191 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 11 | #4,458 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,722 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 12 | #3,928 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 6 | #6,447 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 14 | #3,675 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 29 | #2,242 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 25 | #2,455 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 17 | #3,175 | 5 | #4,594 |
| 1960 | 24 | #2,503 | 6 | #4,004 |
| 1959 | 37 | #1,850 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 34 | #1,900 | 8 | #3,244 |
| 1957 | 20 | #2,637 | 12 | #2,478 |
| 1956 | 14 | #3,304 | 10 | #2,778 |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,555 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 8 | #4,611 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,420 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 13 | #3,178 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 5 | #6,129 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 9 | #3,868 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | under 5 | 7 | #3,292 | |
| 1947 | 5 | #6,032 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,621 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 5 | #5,170 | under 5 | |
| 1929 | under 5 | 5 | #4,472 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 5 | #4,879 |
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 Tam a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,889 Americans recorded as Tam, 48% are girls and 52% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Tam: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tam, and how old are they?
1,760 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 1,889 Americans ever recorded as Tam. The median Tam alive today is 36 years old; half are between 24 and 45.
The 2020 Census counted 12,308 people named Tam (6,243 women and girls, 6,065 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,739 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7.1 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 258 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 172 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 708 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 430 |
| 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 Tam born?
The states with the most babies named Tam are California, Texas and Louisiana, with 97% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 329 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Texas | 77 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Louisiana | 6 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Ohio | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Illinois | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Tam is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tam is most over-represented in California: since 1924 it was given 1.4 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 Tam 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 3,613 babies since 1880, Tam is the most given (52% of them). In 2025 it was given to 10 of their 161 babies (6.2%), the fourth 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 Tam
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 Tam and names like it
- Compare Tam and TamimBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sTam peaked in 1982.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tam since 1910.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Tam.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Tam alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.