Recorded 1957–1989 Girls' name Peak 1978 219 births

Tenita — girls' name

219 babies named Tenita in U.S. Social Security records since 1957, with the highest year being 1978. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.

1950s51960s551970s771980s82
1980s
Peak decade

37% of everyone ever named Tenita was born in this single decade.

1978
Single peak year

15 babies were named Tenita in 1978 — its busiest year on record.

What the Data Says About Tenita

The Social Security Administration has registered 219 babies named Tenita between 1957 and 1989, spanning 33 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Tenita currently falls outside the top 1,000 girls' names for 1989. The name reached its historical peak in 1978, when 15 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Tenita performed strongest in the 1980s, accumulating 82 births during that ten-year window. Across the 4 decades of recorded activity, Tenita shows a stable profile with only moderate drift from its peak decade.

No etymological entry is currently available for Tenita in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 219 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.

Tenita at a glance

Last recorded 1989

Total births

219

Since 1957

33 years of records

Peak year

1978

15 births that year

Strongest decade: 1980s

Current rank

Unranked

Outside the modern top-1,000

As of 1989

Active since

1957

Recorded for 33 years

Last year on file: 1989

Tenita popularity over time

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 1989–1957

Last recorded 1989
Peak year (1978)
15
Annual births at peak — across 33 years of records
05101520 19891985198119771972196719611957 5

Tenita by decade

Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance

Peak: 1980s
Peak decade
1980s
82 births that decade — 37% of Tenita's all-time total
1950s51960s551970s771980s82

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Tenita?
219 babies have been named Tenita since 1957. It was last recorded in 1989. The peak year was 1978 with 15 births.
When was Tenita most popular?
Tenita was most popular in the 1980s decade with 82 total births. The single peak year was 1978.
How long has the name Tenita been used?
Tenita has been recorded in Social Security data since 1957, spanning 33 years of data through 1989.
What names are similar to Tenita?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Tena, Tenley, Tenisha, Tennie, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for girls.

Data Sources

Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1957–1989 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.

State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.