Tammy
Feminine · “date palm”
Tammy is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 332,015 girls against 1,392 boys since 1880. See Tammy as a boy name
Tammy went from a modest name to one of the most-used in the country on the strength of a film and its title song. The picture came out in the late nineteen fifties, the song was everywhere for a year, and the name climbed steadily for the following decade until it reached the top ten, which is about as clean a demonstration of cause and effect as the register offers.
How old is the name Tammy?
Tammy first appears in US birth records in 1934 — 91 years ago. The typical Tammy alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 305,000 people named Tammy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tammy most popular?
Tammy peaked in 1966, reaching #8 nationally. Today it ranks #3645, 3,637 places below that high. See the whole 1966 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Hebrew word for a date palm, or a feminine of Thomas to Tammy
The story of Tammy
There are two Tamars in the Hebrew Bible and both stories are difficult. One disguises herself to force her father-in-law to honor an obligation he has evaded, and is proved right in the text's own judgment; the other is a king's daughter assaulted by her half-brother, whose father does nothing about it and whose full brother eventually kills the man himself. Neither is a comfortable story and both are told at unusual length, with attention to what the women say and think, which is rare in those books. The name means the date palm, a tree associated with uprightness and fruitfulness, and it is worth knowing that the two women who carry it are the two the narrative treats most seriously.
Meaningscholars disagree
date palm
If the parent is Tamar, the Hebrew word means a date palm and the reading is settled for that name. If the parent is Thomasina, the meaning is twin. Both were available and the short form serves either, so the answer depends on a family history that the certificate does not record.
How the name formed
- A Hebrew word for a date palm, or a feminine of Thomas
- Tammy as a short form in modest use
- A film and a title song in the late nineteen fifties
- A climb to the top ten within a decade
Related forms: Tamar
Pronouncing Tammy
TAM-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a short flat a. The doubled m keeps the vowel short, which a single m would not, and the ending is one of four spellings that are identical in speech.
Nicknames for Tammy
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
- 1934
- Most girls named
- 196321,199 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #8reached in 1966
- Change vs 2023
- +24.2%41 in 2025, from 33
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.
Tammy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tamar in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Tammys among us
people named Tammy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 39,202 born in 2025 was named Tammy
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tammy
- #3645
- Tammy on the 2025 chart
- #907
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tammy went to 41 girls in 2025, but Tami is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 53, which makes it the 907th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,738 places above the chart.
- Tammy41
- Tami12
About 1 girl in 30,326 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 39,202 for Tammy itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sharon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tammy's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sharon climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sharon's path sketches the road Tammy is walking now.
Tammy sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Tammy is headed
Tammy should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Tammy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tammy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sound is universally known and never needs explaining.
- Tam is available as a plainer short form and is a real Scottish name.
- It has a documented and datable origin, which most names of its size do not.
- It is very strongly associated with one American generation.
- Four spellings of the ending are in circulation and yours will be written as another.
- The spelling is on the register for boys as well, in very small numbers.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Tammy
Feminine · #3645 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tammys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 305,000 people named Tammy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tammy?
- Tammy is the most-used spelling in US records — 41 of the 53 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Tami.
- How popular is the name Tammy in 2025?
- Tammy ranks #3645 among US girl names in 2025, with 41 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tammy?
- About 1 in every 39,202 US girls born in 2025 was named Tammy — 41 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tammy with classmates?
- Tammy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tammy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elenor#3645 · Azucena#3645 · Alaura#3645 · Judah#3645 · Rylen#3645 · Zamiyah#3645 · Naiara#3645 · Marietta#3645
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tammy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tammy and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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