Tanja
Tanja was last recorded in 2007, when 7 babies were given it; 2,580 Americans have been recorded with it between 1943 and 2007 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,350 Americans named Tanja and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 48 and 61.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tanja by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tanja mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tanja is “a female given name, variant of Tanya”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tanja?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,313, in 2007; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
153 babies in 1970, the peak
Tanja peaked in 1970, when 153 girls were given it, #875 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 7 | #15,313 | 3.6 |
| 2006 | 5 | #19,768 | 2.6 |
| 2004 | 5 | #18,536 | 2.7 |
| 2002 | 6 | #15,210 | 3.3 |
| 2001 | 7 | #13,353 | 3.9 |
| 1999 | 5 | #16,646 | 2.8 |
| 1998 | 10 | #9,199 | 5.7 |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,724 | 5.2 |
| 1996 | 7 | #11,677 | 4.0 |
| 1995 | 11 | #8,019 | 6.3 |
Every recorded year (57)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 14 | #6,618 | 7.8 |
| 1993 | 12 | #7,442 | 6.6 |
| 1992 | 22 | #4,664 | 11.9 |
| 1991 | 11 | #7,927 | 5.9 |
| 1990 | 25 | #4,101 | 13.2 |
| 1989 | 21 | #4,501 | 11.4 |
| 1988 | 26 | #3,674 | 14.6 |
| 1987 | 23 | #3,848 | 13.2 |
| 1986 | 33 | #2,899 | 19.2 |
| 1985 | 31 | #2,997 | 18.0 |
| 1984 | 35 | #2,672 | 20.8 |
| 1983 | 45 | #2,191 | 26.9 |
| 1982 | 31 | #2,947 | 18.3 |
| 1981 | 37 | #2,558 | 22.2 |
| 1980 | 47 | #2,183 | 28.3 |
| 1979 | 59 | #1,828 | 36.8 |
| 1978 | 69 | #1,579 | 45.0 |
| 1977 | 48 | #2,022 | 31.3 |
| 1976 | 69 | #1,512 | 47.1 |
| 1975 | 71 | #1,457 | 48.7 |
| 1974 | 104 | #1,122 | 70.9 |
| 1973 | 91 | #1,193 | 62.4 |
| 1972 | 134 | #922 | 88.1 |
| 1971 | 126 | #999 | 75.7 |
| 1970 | 153 | #875 | 87.5 |
| 1969 | 126 | #954 | 74.7 |
| 1968 | 110 | #1,001 | 67.1 |
| 1967 | 110 | #977 | 66.6 |
| 1966 | 101 | #1,039 | 59.7 |
| 1965 | 88 | #1,134 | 49.9 |
| 1964 | 104 | #1,071 | 54.9 |
| 1963 | 92 | #1,146 | 47.7 |
| 1962 | 67 | #1,358 | 34.1 |
| 1961 | 82 | #1,222 | 40.6 |
| 1960 | 71 | #1,310 | 35.1 |
| 1959 | 40 | #1,761 | 19.8 |
| 1958 | 41 | #1,700 | 20.4 |
| 1957 | 34 | #1,894 | 16.6 |
| 1956 | 23 | #2,377 | 11.5 |
| 1955 | 18 | #2,715 | 9.2 |
| 1954 | 12 | #3,474 | 6.2 |
| 1953 | 14 | #3,090 | 7.4 |
| 1952 | 10 | #3,772 | 5.4 |
| 1951 | 10 | #3,695 | 5.6 |
| 1950 | 8 | #4,278 | 4.7 |
| 1947 | 5 | #6,035 | 2.8 |
| 1943 | 5 | #5,300 | 3.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Tanja a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Tanja has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 57 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Tanja: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tanja, and how old are they?
2,350 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 2,580 Americans ever recorded as Tanja. The median Tanja alive today is 55 years old; half are between 48 and 61.
The 2020 Census counted 4,010 people named Tanja (4,010 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,415 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 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 | 529 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,390 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 372 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 53 |
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 Tanja born?
The states with the most babies named Tanja are California, Illinois and Texas, with 51% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 226 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 111 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 105 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 101 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 71 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Louisiana | 33 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 32 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 30 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 26 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Alabama | 21 | not ranked | 0.4× |
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 Tanja 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 4,222 babies since 1880, Tanja is the most given (61% 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 Tanja
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 Tanja and names like it
- Compare Tanja and TanijahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sTanja peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tanja since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Tanja.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Tanja alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with TMost given first.