Head to head · Boys' names
Tatum vs Timothy
#202 vs #203 in 2025
Tatum is a whisker ahead (#202 vs #203 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Tatum is climbing the charts fast, Timothy is holding its place on the charts.
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
The tape is even: Tatum and Timothy each lead 3 measures of 6.
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
- 1880s: Tatum —, Timothy #187 — Timothy higher
- 1890s: Tatum —, Timothy #211 — Timothy higher
- 1900s: Tatum —, Timothy #244 — Timothy higher
- 1910s: Tatum —, Timothy #328 — Timothy higher
- 1920s: Tatum —, Timothy #338 — Timothy higher
- 1930s: Tatum —, Timothy #254 — Timothy higher
- 1940s: Tatum —, Timothy #81 — Timothy higher
- 1950s: Tatum —, Timothy #22 — Timothy higher
- 1960s: Tatum —, Timothy #14 — Timothy higher
- 1970s: Tatum #3491, Timothy #20 — Timothy higher
- 1980s: Tatum #5031, Timothy #25 — Timothy higher
- 1990s: Tatum #3961, Timothy #39 — Timothy higher
- 2000s: Tatum #1822, Timothy #84 — Timothy higher
- 2010s: Tatum #605, Timothy #143 — Timothy higher
- 2020s: Tatum #304, Timothy #202 — Timothy higher
Timothy stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Tatum | Timothy |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #187 |
| 1890s | — | #211 |
| 1900s | — | #244 |
| 1910s | — | #328 |
| 1920s | — | #338 |
| 1930s | — | #254 |
| 1940s | — | #81 |
| 1950s | — | #22 |
| 1960s | — | #14 |
| 1970s | #3491 | #20 |
| 1980s | #5031 | #25 |
| 1990s | #3961 | #39 |
| 2000s | #1822 | #84 |
| 2010s | #605 | #143 |
| 2020s | #304 | #202 |
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
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.
Timothy
honoring God
Greek Timotheos joins time, honor or worth, with theos, god. The compound can be read either way round — honoring God, or honored by God — and Greek does not settle it. The derivation itself is not disputed. Timothy of the epistles was Paul's traveling companion and the recipient of two letters; the name reached English in its Latin form and was anglicized during the sixteenth century.
Timotheos → Timotheus → Timothy
How it traveled
Timothy grass takes its name from Timothy Hanson, an eighteenth-century American farmer who promoted it as fodder — one of the very few cases where an ordinary man's first name became a botanical one. So a Timothy carries a Greek compound about honor and a hayfield at the same time.
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
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.
Timothy
TIM-uh-thee
TIM-uh-thee, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced, the th as in think. Greek said the middle vowel fully and put the weight further back, so the English name has flattened it considerably.
- Tim — The front clipped, and a complete working name; what most Timothys go by.
- Timmy — The same softened, which belongs to childhood in most households.
- Timo — The European short form, standard across Finland and Germany and increasingly heard here.
Who has carried each name
Tatum
No documented entry for Tatum yet.
Timothy
Timothy Dalton (b. 1946) — James Bond of the late '80s
Timothy Olyphant (b. 1968) — Justified's Raylan Givens
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 Tatum if you want…
- a name on the way upup 288 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesTatum is 2 syllables to Timothy's 3
- a newer arrivalTatum entered the US charts in 1973
- a name that feels very nowTatum is climbing the charts fast
Choose Timothy if you want…
- a name holding steadyTimothy is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itTimothy runs 3 syllables, Tatum 2
- a long American recordTimothy was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 60% for Tatum
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
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.
Timothy
Strengths
- The Greek compound is settled and both halves are ordinary, dignified words.
- Tim is a complete working short form that needs no explanation anywhere.
- It has been in continuous English use for four centuries without belonging to one decade.
To consider
- A great many people carry it, so a Timothy will rarely be the only Tim in a room.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the last century in America.
- Almost every Timothy is called Tim, so the full name is largely ceremonial.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Tatum
60%chance Tatum feels dated by 2040
Tatum is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Timothy
12%chance Timothy feels dated by 2040
Timothy has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Tatum and Timothy 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 Tatum and Timothy?
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.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
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 these names appear on
- Five-letter names, the comfortable middle
- The best baby names starting with T
- The steadiest names in America
- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- all guides
Where Tatum and Timothy each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Tatum or Timothy — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Tatum or Timothy?
- Tatum, in 2025: Tatum ranked #202 with 1,736 babies; Timothy ranked #203 with 1,734 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Tatum or Timothy?
- Tatum. Over the last five years Tatum moved up 288 places; Timothy moved down 11 places.
- Which is the older name, Tatum or Timothy?
- Tatum entered the US charts in 1973; Timothy was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Timothy is the older name.
- How many people are named Tatum and Timothy?
- About 13,000 people named Tatum are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 922,000 people named Timothy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Tatums or Timothys in the classroom?
- Tatum will almost certainly be the only one in school. Timothy 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 Tatum, Timothy and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap