Tierney
Tierney was given to 15 girls in 2025, #7,454 among girls’ names; 3,979 Americans have been recorded with it since 1957 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,880 Americans named Tierney and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 19 and 37.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tierney by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tierney mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tierney is “a female given name.” Its etymology gives the senses “descendant of Tiarnach” (Tiarnaigh) and “lord, master” (tiarna).
Anglicized from Irish Gaelic Ó Tiarnaigh “descendant of Tiarnach”, a diminutive of tiarna (“lord, master”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tierney?
#7,454 among girls’ names, 2025
Tierney fell from #3,385 in 2015 to #7,454 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 26.9 to 9.3 per million.
172 babies in 1993, the peak
Tierney peaked in 1993, when 172 girls were given it, #1,060 among girls’ names. The 15 births of 2025 are 9% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15 | #7,454 | 9.3 |
| 2024 | 18 | #6,616 | 11.1 |
| 2023 | 34 | #4,265 | 21.2 |
| 2022 | 23 | #5,615 | 14.0 |
| 2021 | 30 | #4,595 | 18.3 |
| 2020 | 47 | #3,332 | 29.1 |
| 2019 | 51 | #3,166 | 30.4 |
| 2018 | 47 | #3,393 | 27.6 |
| 2017 | 49 | #3,297 | 28.4 |
| 2016 | 62 | #2,795 | 35.0 |
Every recorded year (69)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 48 | #3,385 | 26.9 |
| 2014 | 64 | #2,735 | 35.8 |
| 2013 | 56 | #3,001 | 31.9 |
| 2012 | 63 | #2,800 | 35.8 |
| 2011 | 89 | #2,155 | 50.6 |
| 2010 | 59 | #2,936 | 33.2 |
| 2009 | 100 | #2,059 | 54.4 |
| 2008 | 86 | #2,293 | 45.5 |
| 2007 | 74 | #2,539 | 38.5 |
| 2006 | 82 | #2,327 | 43.1 |
| 2005 | 77 | #2,337 | 41.7 |
| 2004 | 100 | #1,892 | 54.5 |
| 2003 | 98 | #1,881 | 53.6 |
| 2002 | 100 | #1,800 | 55.7 |
| 2001 | 94 | #1,867 | 52.2 |
| 2000 | 110 | #1,614 | 60.6 |
| 1999 | 105 | #1,609 | 59.2 |
| 1998 | 95 | #1,687 | 53.8 |
| 1997 | 103 | #1,571 | 59.2 |
| 1996 | 102 | #1,562 | 58.2 |
| 1995 | 98 | #1,555 | 55.7 |
| 1994 | 133 | #1,281 | 74.5 |
| 1993 | 172 | #1,060 | 95.1 |
| 1992 | 147 | #1,191 | 79.7 |
| 1991 | 140 | #1,224 | 74.7 |
| 1990 | 113 | #1,405 | 59.5 |
| 1989 | 102 | #1,449 | 55.3 |
| 1988 | 106 | #1,352 | 59.5 |
| 1987 | 91 | #1,444 | 52.3 |
| 1986 | 70 | #1,689 | 40.8 |
| 1985 | 77 | #1,572 | 44.7 |
| 1984 | 37 | #2,567 | 22.0 |
| 1983 | 53 | #1,954 | 31.7 |
| 1982 | 50 | #2,080 | 29.5 |
| 1981 | 57 | #1,908 | 34.2 |
| 1980 | 38 | #2,531 | 22.9 |
| 1979 | 29 | #2,991 | 18.1 |
| 1978 | 15 | #4,666 | 9.8 |
| 1977 | 24 | #3,255 | 15.7 |
| 1976 | 29 | #2,720 | 19.8 |
| 1975 | 15 | #4,345 | 10.3 |
| 1974 | 19 | #3,543 | 12.9 |
| 1973 | 13 | #4,567 | 8.9 |
| 1972 | 14 | #4,279 | 9.2 |
| 1971 | 10 | #5,503 | 6.0 |
| 1970 | 18 | #3,562 | 10.3 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,419 | 5.3 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,595 | 9.1 |
| 1967 | 15 | #3,465 | 9.1 |
| 1966 | 17 | #3,134 | 10.0 |
| 1965 | 9 | #4,800 | 5.1 |
| 1964 | 11 | #4,329 | 5.8 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,257 | 4.2 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,806 | 3.6 |
| 1961 | 10 | #4,517 | 5.0 |
| 1960 | 18 | #2,981 | 8.9 |
| 1959 | 14 | #3,421 | 6.9 |
| 1958 | 26 | #2,252 | 12.9 |
| 1957 | 46 | #1,610 | 22.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Tierney a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Tierney has been given almost only to girls: 23 boys in 69 years of records.
Girls and boys named Tierney: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tierney, and how old are they?
3,880 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 3,979 Americans ever recorded as Tierney. The median Tierney alive today is 29 years old; half are between 19 and 37.
The 2020 Census counted 3,544 people named Tierney (3,425 women and girls, 119 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,748 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 117 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 274 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,520 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,430 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 541 |
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 Tierney born?
The states with the most babies named Tierney are California, Texas and New York, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 204 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Texas | 173 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New York | 166 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 166 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Tennessee | 161 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Florida | 95 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 89 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 48 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Wisconsin | 43 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Missouri | 37 | not ranked | 0.4× |
Where Tierney is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tierney is most over-represented in Tennessee: since 1957 it was given 1.9 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 Tierney 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 4,140 babies since 1880, Tierney is the most given (96% 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 Tierney
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 Tierney and names like it
- Compare Tierney and TieranyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sTierney peaked in 1993.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tierney since 1910.
- The top names of 1993The year the most babies were named Tierney.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Tierney alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.