Tennyson
Tennyson is given to both girls and boys: 8 girls and 23 boys were given it in 2025 (#11,829 among girls’ names and #4,520 among boys’, #7,859 among all names counting both); 1,586 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,380 Americans named Tennyson and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (87% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 8 and 20.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tennyson by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Tennyson?
#4,520 among boys’ names, 2025
Tennyson fell from #2,675 in 2015 to #4,520 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 24.0 to 13.5 per million.
80 babies in 2017, the peak
Tennyson peaked in 2017, when 80 babies were given it (37 boys, #3,189 among boys’ names). The 31 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 39% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #11,829 | 23 | #4,520 |
| 2024 | 8 | #12,053 | 29 | #3,885 |
| 2023 | 13 | #8,445 | 21 | #4,867 |
| 2022 | 17 | #6,955 | 31 | #3,681 |
| 2021 | 12 | #8,925 | 24 | #4,344 |
| 2020 | 18 | #6,607 | 35 | #3,260 |
| 2019 | 22 | #5,775 | 43 | #2,892 |
| 2018 | 27 | #4,992 | 44 | #2,787 |
| 2017 | 43 | #3,621 | 37 | #3,189 |
| 2016 | 37 | #4,074 | 34 | #3,352 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 22 | #6,013 | 46 | #2,675 |
| 2014 | 25 | #5,438 | 48 | #2,576 |
| 2013 | 21 | #6,232 | 44 | #2,706 |
| 2012 | 15 | #8,179 | 32 | #3,437 |
| 2011 | 15 | #8,158 | 34 | #3,295 |
| 2010 | 18 | #7,187 | 39 | #3,005 |
| 2009 | 12 | #9,928 | 29 | #3,708 |
| 2008 | 19 | #7,044 | 34 | #3,336 |
| 2007 | 14 | #8,968 | 29 | #3,678 |
| 2006 | 11 | #10,552 | 26 | #3,874 |
| 2005 | 6 | #16,268 | 18 | #4,796 |
| 2004 | 7 | #14,055 | 19 | #4,579 |
| 2003 | 8 | #12,313 | 12 | #6,204 |
| 2002 | under 5 | 13 | #5,682 | |
| 2001 | under 5 | 9 | #7,443 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 18 | #4,360 | |
| 1999 | under 5 | 14 | #4,999 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 7 | #8,359 | |
| 1997 | under 5 | 17 | #4,029 | |
| 1996 | under 5 | 17 | #3,994 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 8 | #6,904 | |
| 1993 | under 5 | 8 | #6,757 | |
| 1992 | under 5 | 11 | #5,190 | |
| 1991 | under 5 | 8 | #6,445 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 5 | #9,350 | |
| 1988 | under 5 | 7 | #6,344 | |
| 1984 | under 5 | 5 | #7,220 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 6 | #6,169 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 5 | #6,971 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 12 | #3,378 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 7 | #4,873 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 8 | #4,272 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 6 | #5,171 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 5 | #5,575 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 7 | #4,190 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 5 | #4,548 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 7 | #3,616 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 7 | #3,596 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 11 | #2,646 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 5 | #4,453 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 5 | #4,491 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 6 | #3,841 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 9 | #2,925 | |
| 1949 | under 5 | 9 | #2,781 | |
| 1948 | under 5 | 5 | #4,136 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 5 | #4,209 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 7 | #3,137 | |
| 1945 | under 5 | 6 | #3,294 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 8 | #2,841 | |
| 1938 | under 5 | 5 | #3,981 | |
| 1935 | under 5 | 5 | #4,091 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 5 | #4,227 | |
| 1931 | under 5 | 10 | #2,630 | |
| 1930 | under 5 | 10 | #2,765 | |
| 1929 | under 5 | 5 | #4,475 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 5 | #4,666 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 9 | #3,122 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 7 | #3,666 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 6 | #4,146 | |
| 1923 | under 5 | 6 | #4,189 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 12 | #2,618 | |
| 1921 | under 5 | 6 | #4,273 | |
| 1920 | under 5 | 8 | #3,466 | |
| 1919 | under 5 | 11 | #2,645 | |
| 1918 | under 5 | 11 | #2,682 | |
| 1917 | under 5 | 8 | #3,180 | |
| 1916 | under 5 | 7 | #3,475 | |
| 1915 | under 5 | 12 | #2,292 | |
| 1914 | under 5 | 6 | #3,226 | |
| 1913 | under 5 | 5 | #3,211 |
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 Tennyson a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,586 Americans recorded as Tennyson, 25% are girls and 75% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Tennyson: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tennyson, and how old are they?
1,380 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 87% of the 1,586 Americans ever recorded as Tennyson. The median Tennyson alive today is 13 years old; half are between 8 and 20.
The 2020 Census counted 1,269 people named Tennyson (349 women and girls, 920 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,172 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 9 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 54 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 45 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 72 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 469 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 727 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,637 babies since 1880, Tennyson is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 31 of their 31 babies (100%), again the most given.
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 Tennyson
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 Tennyson and names like it
- Compare Tennyson and TennisonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sTennyson peaked in 2017.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tennyson since 1910.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Tennyson.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Tennyson alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with TMost given first.