Tenisha
Tenisha was last recorded in 2013, when 5 babies were given it; 3,501 Americans have been recorded with it between 1968 and 2013 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,380 Americans named Tenisha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 42 years old and half are between 36 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tenisha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tenisha mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tenisha is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tenisha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #19,041, in 2013; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
221 babies in 1983, the peak
Tenisha peaked in 1983, when 221 girls were given it, #744 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 5 | #19,041 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 5 | #19,580 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 6 | #17,104 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 6 | #17,309 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 9 | #12,589 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 9 | #12,339 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 13 | #8,830 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 7 | #14,054 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 5 | #18,178 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 13 | #8,236 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (44)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 20 | #5,792 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 19 | #5,917 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 17 | #6,164 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 36 | #3,418 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 37 | #3,214 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 39 | #3,082 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 74 | #1,894 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 99 | #1,559 | 0.06 |
| 1993 | 104 | #1,514 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 120 | #1,376 | 0.07 |
| 1991 | 131 | #1,282 | 0.07 |
| 1990 | 139 | #1,214 | 0.07 |
| 1989 | 145 | #1,141 | 0.08 |
| 1988 | 137 | #1,127 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 175 | #940 | 0.10 |
| 1986 | 149 | #1,023 | 0.09 |
| 1985 | 149 | #1,018 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 168 | #893 | 0.10 |
| 1983 | 221 | #744 | 0.13 |
| 1982 | 178 | #869 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 181 | #863 | 0.11 |
| 1980 | 163 | #920 | 0.10 |
| 1979 | 178 | #871 | 0.11 |
| 1978 | 160 | #900 | 0.10 |
| 1977 | 144 | #964 | 0.09 |
| 1976 | 115 | #1,070 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 87 | #1,290 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 80 | #1,333 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 50 | #1,769 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 50 | #1,768 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 24 | #2,944 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 19 | #3,428 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 6 | #7,391 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 9 | #5,106 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Tenisha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Tenisha 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 Tenisha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tenisha, and how old are they?
3,380 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 3,501 Americans ever recorded as Tenisha. The median Tenisha alive today is 42 years old; half are between 36 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 2,950 people named Tenisha (2,947 women and girls, 3 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,408 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% 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 | 1,030 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,140 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 199 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5 |
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 Tenisha born?
The states with the most babies named Tenisha are California, Illinois and New York, with 38% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 310 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 303 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| New York | 249 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 196 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Texas | 167 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 141 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 133 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Florida | 125 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 107 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Louisiana | 74 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Tenisha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tenisha is most over-represented in Illinois: since 1968 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 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 Tenisha 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 6,064 babies since 1880, Tenisha is the most given (58% 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 Tenisha
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 Tenisha and names like it
- Compare Tenisha and TeneshaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sTenisha peaked in 1983.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tenisha since 1910.
- The top names of 1983The year the most babies were named Tenisha.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Tenisha alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.