Tanika
Tanika was last recorded in 2016, when 7 babies were given it; 4,522 Americans have been recorded with it between 1968 and 2016 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,340 Americans named Tanika and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 44 years old and half are between 38 and 49.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tanika by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tanika mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tanika is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tanika?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,187, in 2016; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
314 babies in 1982, the peak
Tanika peaked in 1982, when 314 girls were given it, #582 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 7 | #14,187 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 5 | #19,248 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 6 | #17,078 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,728 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 17 | #7,700 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 14 | #8,671 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 12 | #9,386 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 16 | #7,352 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 18 | #6,552 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 15 | #7,398 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (44)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 18 | #6,289 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 20 | #5,677 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 42 | #3,142 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 38 | #3,289 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 53 | #2,475 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 53 | #2,445 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 62 | #2,180 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 64 | #2,135 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 83 | #1,770 | 0.05 |
| 1992 | 106 | #1,495 | 0.06 |
| 1991 | 111 | #1,438 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 129 | #1,267 | 0.07 |
| 1989 | 173 | #999 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 104 | #1,373 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 120 | #1,207 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 115 | #1,214 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 144 | #1,043 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 183 | #844 | 0.11 |
| 1983 | 223 | #735 | 0.13 |
| 1982 | 314 | #582 | 0.19 |
| 1981 | 188 | #834 | 0.11 |
| 1980 | 209 | #789 | 0.13 |
| 1979 | 260 | #669 | 0.16 |
| 1978 | 301 | #573 | 0.20 |
| 1977 | 274 | #615 | 0.18 |
| 1976 | 302 | #558 | 0.21 |
| 1975 | 256 | #616 | 0.18 |
| 1974 | 181 | #769 | 0.12 |
| 1973 | 107 | #1,084 | 0.07 |
| 1972 | 81 | #1,277 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 38 | #2,168 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 23 | #3,017 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 16 | #3,605 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 10 | #4,741 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Tanika a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Tanika has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 44 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Tanika: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tanika, and how old are they?
4,340 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 4,522 Americans ever recorded as Tanika. The median Tanika alive today is 44 years old; half are between 38 and 49.
The 2020 Census counted 3,629 people named Tanika (3,611 women and girls, 18 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,388 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,950 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,110 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 281 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 7 |
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 Tanika born?
The states with the most babies named Tanika are New York, Illinois and California, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 379 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 351 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| California | 291 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Maryland | 226 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| Florida | 210 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 191 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Georgia | 189 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 186 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 143 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 142 | not ranked | 1.4× |
Where Tanika is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tanika is most over-represented in Maryland: since 1968 it was given 3.0 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 girls’ 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 Tanika 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 7,159 babies since 1880, Tanika is the most given (63% 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 Tanika
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 Tanika and names like it
- Compare Tanika and TanekaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sTanika peaked in 1982.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tanika since 1910.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Tanika.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Tanika alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.