Tammey
Feminine
Tammey is a respelling of a name that rose and fell inside about thirty years. The syllable it starts with also opens the name of the most notorious political machine in American history, which took it from a Lenape leader by way of a joke.
How old is the name Tammey?
Tammey first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Tammey alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 700 people named Tammey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tammey most popular?
Tammey peaked in 1960, reaching #1501 nationally. See the whole 1960 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Tammey
Tamanend was a Lenape leader remembered for the treaties he made with William Penn, and colonial Americans took him up as a figure of good faith, inventing a mock canonization and celebrating Saint Tammany's Day as a deliberately homegrown alternative to the imported saints' days of England and Ireland. Social clubs named themselves after him. One of those clubs, in New York, became the Tammany Society and then the political organization that controlled the city for most of a century, ran its immigrant patronage networks, and gave American English the phrase for machine politics. A man remembered for keeping his word ended up as the byword for the opposite.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Tammy is usually treated as a short form of Tamara or Thomasina, and it has also been given on its own. This respelling is not documented and no reason for it has been recorded.
Pronouncing Tammey
TAM-ee
Two syllables with the stress in front. The ey ending is said exactly like a y.
Nicknames for Tammey
Limited
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
- 1957
- Most girls named
- 196054 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1501reached in 1960
- Change vs 1979
- 0.0%7 in 1983, from 7
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.
Tammeys among us
people named Tammey 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
Tammey 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
- The sound is completely familiar, so nobody is ever at a loss for how to say it.
- It is short, quick to write and easy for a child to learn to spell.
- Tam comes off it as a short form and works either way.
- Tammy and Tami are both commoner, so this spelling will be corrected regularly.
- The ending cannot be heard, so the spelling has to be given aloud every time.
- The name belongs audibly to one stretch of the last century, which places it in time for most listeners.
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Tammey
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Tammeys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Tammey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tammey in 2025?
- Tammey is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tammey with classmates?
- Tammey 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 Tammey? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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