Tama
Feminine
Tama is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,433 girls against 13 boys since 1880.
Tama is a real word in two languages on opposite sides of the world. In Japanese it means a jewel or a ball, and by extension a soul; in Maori it means a son or a young man. Neither is likely to be behind the American examples, which are almost certainly cut from the front of a longer name, but both are genuine and both are used as names.
How old is the name Tama?
Tama first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Tama alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 1,200 people named Tama are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tama most popular?
Tama peaked in 1959, reaching #1079 nationally. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Hebrew name meaning a date palm, behind Tamara to Tama
Our story of Tama
The Japanese word is worth a note because of where it turns up. It means a round thing, a bead or a jewel, and it extends to the soul, which in that tradition is imagined as a round shining object; it is inside the word for a soul departing the body and inside a great many compound words about anything spherical. The Maori word is unrelated and means a son, and it opens a long list of Maori men's names. Two languages with no contact, one shape, two entirely different meanings, and an American clipping that arrived at the same letters for a third reason. Coincidences of this kind are inevitable with very short names and they are the single most common source of invented etymologies in name books.
Meaningnot established
Not established
As an American name it is most likely a clipping of Tamara or Tamar, which would make the meaning a date palm, from Hebrew. The Japanese and Maori words are real and are not behind it. Three answers exist and only one of them describes the certificates in question, which is worth saying rather than choosing the most attractive.
How the name formed
- A Hebrew name meaning a date palm, behind Tamara
- Clipped at the front in American use
- Also a Japanese word for a jewel and a Maori word for a son
- Tama in the registers for both sexes
Related forms: Tama · Tama
Pronouncing Tama
TAH-muh
Two syllables, stress on the first, with an open first vowel. Japanese and Maori both say it with two even syllables and no reduction at the end, which is slightly different from the American version.
Nicknames for Tama
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1919
- Most girls named
- 195997 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1079reached in 1959
- Change vs 2002
- 0.0%5 in 2006, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Tama in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tama in Japanese — same name
- Tama in Maori — same name
Tamas among us
people named Tama are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Tama sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, soft and easy for speakers of almost any language.
- It exists as a real word in at least two living languages.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- Three possible sources give three unrelated meanings.
- It reads as a clipping, and people will ask what it is short for.
- It will be written Tamma or Tamah by people taking it from speech.
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Tama
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Tamas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Tama are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tama in 2025?
- Tama is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tama with classmates?
- Tama will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tama? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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