Head to head · Girls' names
Haven vs Tatum
#190 vs #189 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Tatum is a whisker ahead (#189 vs #190 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Tatum leads 5 measures of 6; Haven leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1920s: Haven #4398, Tatum — — Haven higher
- 1930s: Haven #4331, Tatum — — Haven higher
- 1940s: Haven #4186, Tatum — — Haven higher
- 1950s: Haven #4697, Tatum — — Haven higher
- 1960s: Haven #5655, Tatum #6564 — Haven higher
- 1970s: Haven #5036, Tatum #1504 — Tatum higher
- 1980s: Haven #3788, Tatum #1695 — Tatum higher
- 1990s: Haven #1681, Tatum #961 — Tatum higher
- 2000s: Haven #632, Tatum #378 — Tatum higher
- 2010s: Haven #388, Tatum #378 — Tatum higher
- 2020s: Haven #249, Tatum #253 — Haven higher
Haven stood higher in 6 of 11 decades; Haven took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Haven | Tatum |
|---|---|---|
| 1920s | #4398 | — |
| 1930s | #4331 | — |
| 1940s | #4186 | — |
| 1950s | #4697 | — |
| 1960s | #5655 | #6564 |
| 1970s | #5036 | #1504 |
| 1980s | #3788 | #1695 |
| 1990s | #1681 | #961 |
| 2000s | #632 | #378 |
| 2010s | #388 | #378 |
| 2020s | #249 | #253 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Haven
harbor; a place of shelter or safety
The literal sense is the older one — a harbor or port. The figurative sense of refuge grew out of it in Middle English and is now the sense most speakers hear first.
hæfen (Old English) → haven → Haven
How it traveled
The root is Old English hæfen, a harbor or anchorage, kin to Dutch haven and German Hafen and to the -havn in Danish place names. Through the medieval period the word carried both meanings at once, the literal port and the shelter it offered, and English never lost either.
Tatum
Tata's homestead
From the Old English personal name Tata plus hām, "homestead" or "village" — the source of the Lancashire place name Tatham and the surname Tatum. What Tata itself meant is not established; it looks like an affectionate short name of the kind Old English used freely.
Tata → Tatham → Tatum
How it traveled
The name starts on the ground: a settlement in northern England named for whoever held it, recorded as Tatham and later smoothed to Tatum. Like thousands of English place-names, it became a family name, and it crossed the Atlantic that way — carried by families, not by parents choosing it for a baby.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Haven
HAY-vən
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the English word. No competing pronunciation.
- Hav — Informal clipping heard within families; the name is short enough that most Havens use it in full, in every setting.
- Havie — Affectionate diminutive, mainly used with young children.
Tatum
TAY-tum
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling gives the sound away, so it survives a phone call and a roll call without correction.
- Tate — The obvious short form, and a well-established given name in its own right for boys and girls.
- Tay — Informal, family-and-friends use.
- Tatie — Informal, mostly used with small children.
Who has carried each name
Haven
No documented entry for Haven yet.
Tatum
Tatum O'Neal (b. 1963) — Youngest competitive Oscar winner ever — at age 10
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Haven if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Haven from Tatum.
Choose Tatum if you want…
- a name on the way upup 154 places on the charts in five years
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Haven
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and already known to every English speaker as a word — almost no one will need it repeated or clarified.
- Two clean syllables with a single stress pattern; no regional variants to correct.
- Documented in American birth records across many decades before its current rise, so it is a revival with a real paper trail.
To consider
- Haven and Heaven are one consonant apart, and people will sometimes mishear or misspell it that way. Most Havens learn a quick, cheerful correction early.
- This is a rising name, so a child born now may be the only one in the class while later classes hold two or three. That is a different experience from a name that has already peaked and settled.
- Boys with this spelling are a small minority. A son named Haven will meet the assumption that the name belongs to girls — worth knowing in advance rather than discovering at roll call.
Tatum
Strengths
- Reads and spells itself: anyone who sees Tatum says it right the first time, and anyone who hears it writes it right.
- Works for a boy or a girl with no change in spelling or sound — the split is close to even in American records.
- Comes with Tate ready-made as a short form, itself a real name rather than a coinage.
To consider
- Because it is given almost equally to boys and girls, forms, teachers and strangers will guess wrong about half the time. That is easy to correct but it will happen for life.
- It is rising quickly. A Tatum starting school now will likely be the only one in the building, but the name may feel considerably more familiar by the time that child is grown.
- Tatum is a surname as well as a first name — there are well-known people who carry it as a last name — so it can occasionally read as a surname on a list or a form.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Haven and Tatum in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Haven and Tatum?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Haven and Tatum — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Haven or Tatum — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Haven or Tatum?
- Tatum, in 2025: Tatum ranked #189 with 1,661 babies; Haven ranked #190 with 1,642 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Haven or Tatum?
- Tatum. Over the last five years Haven moved up 122 places; Tatum moved up 154 places.
- Which is the older name, Haven or Tatum?
- Haven entered the US charts in 1920; Tatum entered the US charts in 1966. On the American record, Haven is the older name.
- How many people are named Haven and Tatum?
- About 22,500 people named Haven are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 28,500 people named Tatum are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Havens or Tatums in the classroom?
- Haven will almost certainly be the only one in school. Tatum will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Haven, Tatum and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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