Tiernan
Tiernan was given to 29 boys in 2025, #3,839 among boys’ names; 1,676 Americans have been recorded with it since 1985 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,650 Americans named Tiernan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 13 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tiernan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tiernan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tiernan is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the sense “lord” (Tiarna).
From Irish Tiarnán, from Tiarna (“lord”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tiernan?
#3,839 among boys’ names, 2025
Tiernan fell from #2,677 in 2015 to #3,839 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 24.0 to 17.0 per million.
95 babies in 2009, the peak
Tiernan peaked in 2009, when 95 babies were given it (85 boys, #1,786 among boys’ names). The 29 births of 2025 are 31% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | under 5 | 29 | #3,839 | |
| 2024 | under 5 | 26 | #4,182 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 35 | #3,406 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 38 | #3,205 | |
| 2021 | under 5 | 32 | #3,570 | |
| 2020 | under 5 | 20 | #4,839 | |
| 2019 | under 5 | 24 | #4,316 | |
| 2018 | 5 | #17,917 | 28 | #3,872 |
| 2017 | 5 | #18,217 | 26 | #4,092 |
| 2016 | 5 | #18,640 | 36 | #3,219 |
Every recorded year (38)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5 | #18,875 | 46 | #2,677 |
| 2014 | 5 | #18,983 | 49 | #2,538 |
| 2013 | 5 | #19,058 | 53 | #2,396 |
| 2012 | 5 | #19,305 | 56 | #2,319 |
| 2011 | 7 | #14,716 | 73 | #1,922 |
| 2010 | 5 | #19,597 | 73 | #1,936 |
| 2009 | 10 | #11,391 | 85 | #1,786 |
| 2008 | 12 | #10,028 | 78 | #1,872 |
| 2007 | 5 | #20,321 | 86 | #1,738 |
| 2006 | 11 | #10,554 | 67 | #2,007 |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,857 | 69 | #1,862 |
| 2004 | 11 | #9,840 | 68 | #1,828 |
| 2003 | 13 | #8,451 | 62 | #1,901 |
| 2002 | 19 | #6,109 | 55 | #2,012 |
| 2001 | 17 | #6,592 | 49 | #2,141 |
| 2000 | 11 | #9,119 | 41 | #2,367 |
| 1999 | 9 | #10,275 | 39 | #2,336 |
| 1998 | under 5 | 35 | #2,498 | |
| 1997 | under 5 | 18 | #3,860 | |
| 1996 | under 5 | 17 | #3,996 | |
| 1995 | 5 | #15,579 | 16 | #4,027 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 7 | #7,685 | |
| 1993 | 5 | #15,619 | 12 | #4,959 |
| 1992 | under 5 | 10 | #5,600 | |
| 1991 | 5 | #15,267 | 8 | #6,454 |
| 1989 | 5 | #14,386 | 5 | #9,101 |
| 1988 | under 5 | 5 | #8,389 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 5 | #7,491 |
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 Tiernan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,676 Americans recorded as Tiernan, 12% are girls and 88% boys. In 2025 it went to 29 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Tiernan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tiernan, and how old are they?
1,650 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,676 Americans ever recorded as Tiernan. The median Tiernan alive today is 18 years old; half are between 13 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 1,520 people named Tiernan (237 women and girls, 1,283 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,485 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 101 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,080 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 468 |
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 1,762 babies since 1880, Tiernan is the most given (95% of them). In 2025 it was given to 29 of their 29 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 Tiernan
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 Tiernan and names like it
- Compare Tiernan and TiranBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sTiernan peaked in 2009.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tiernan since 1910.
- The top names of 2009The year the most babies were named Tiernan.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Tiernan alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with TMost given first.