Thanh
Thanh was last recorded in 2021, when 5 babies were given it; 1,749 Americans have been recorded with it between 1976 and 2021 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,680 Americans named Thanh and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 37 years old and half are between 29 and 43.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Thanh by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Thanh mean?
Wiktionary, Vietnamese section
Thanh is “a unisex given name from Chinese”
Sino-Vietnamese word from 清.
[tʰajŋ̟˧˧]
Meaning: Wiktionary, Vietnamese section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Thanh?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #13,869, in 2021; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
103 babies in 1981, the peak
Thanh peaked in 1981, when 103 babies were given it (67 boys, #1,124 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | under 5 | 5 | #13,869 | |
| 2019 | under 5 | 7 | #10,697 | |
| 2016 | under 5 | 6 | #12,011 | |
| 2015 | under 5 | 7 | #10,509 | |
| 2014 | 7 | #14,436 | 9 | #8,715 |
| 2013 | 5 | #19,052 | 13 | #6,559 |
| 2012 | under 5 | 13 | #6,595 | |
| 2011 | 7 | #14,713 | 10 | #7,996 |
| 2010 | 9 | #12,182 | 5 | #14,041 |
| 2009 | 6 | #17,114 | 6 | #12,321 |
Every recorded year (43)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 6 | #17,319 | 11 | #7,647 |
| 2007 | 6 | #17,460 | 12 | #7,032 |
| 2006 | 10 | #11,350 | 14 | #6,060 |
| 2005 | 9 | #11,759 | 15 | #5,541 |
| 2004 | 9 | #11,533 | 13 | #6,094 |
| 2003 | 10 | #10,369 | 16 | #5,016 |
| 2002 | 13 | #8,238 | 21 | #4,024 |
| 2001 | 13 | #8,151 | 20 | #4,102 |
| 2000 | 15 | #7,126 | 25 | #3,408 |
| 1999 | 17 | #6,167 | 28 | #3,020 |
| 1998 | 9 | #10,045 | 11 | #5,794 |
| 1997 | 11 | #8,299 | 18 | #3,859 |
| 1996 | 16 | #6,042 | 27 | #2,824 |
| 1995 | 17 | #5,660 | 35 | #2,284 |
| 1994 | 14 | #6,629 | 30 | #2,548 |
| 1993 | 21 | #4,807 | 38 | #2,116 |
| 1992 | 27 | #3,956 | 33 | #2,295 |
| 1991 | 29 | #3,707 | 35 | #2,129 |
| 1990 | 18 | #5,261 | 45 | #1,772 |
| 1989 | 21 | #4,511 | 41 | #1,850 |
| 1988 | 22 | #4,162 | 37 | #1,838 |
| 1987 | 25 | #3,613 | 46 | #1,555 |
| 1986 | 27 | #3,354 | 46 | #1,490 |
| 1985 | 40 | #2,482 | 45 | #1,501 |
| 1984 | 30 | #2,986 | 49 | #1,363 |
| 1983 | 34 | #2,651 | 57 | #1,220 |
| 1982 | 27 | #3,249 | 74 | #1,061 |
| 1981 | 36 | #2,610 | 67 | #1,124 |
| 1980 | 37 | #2,595 | 32 | #1,803 |
| 1979 | 16 | #4,615 | 39 | #1,530 |
| 1978 | 14 | #4,911 | 12 | #3,380 |
| 1977 | 5 | #11,175 | 14 | #3,029 |
| 1976 | 12 | #5,176 | 12 | #3,245 |
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 Thanh a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,749 Americans recorded as Thanh, 37% are girls and 63% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Thanh: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Thanh, and how old are they?
1,680 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,749 Americans ever recorded as Thanh. The median Thanh alive today is 37 years old; half are between 29 and 43.
The 2020 Census counted 22,782 people named Thanh (8,656 women and girls, 14,126 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,694 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13.4 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 180 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,060 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 382 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 59 |
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 Thanh born?
The states with the most babies named Thanh are California, Texas and Louisiana, with 97% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 408 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Texas | 107 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Louisiana | 31 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Colorado | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Massachusetts | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Thanh is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Thanh is most over-represented in California: since 1976 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 boys’ 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 Thanh with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Thanh
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 Thanh and names like it
- Compare Thanh and MychalBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sThanh peaked in 1981.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Thanh since 1910.
- Chinese namesWiktionary’s origin for Thanh: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1981The year the most babies were named Thanh.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Thanh alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.