Tanita
Feminine
Tanita is a name with a Spanish-looking -ita ending on Tania. In 1988 a nineteen-year-old singer of that name had one of the most unusual hits of the decade.
How old is the name Tanita?
Tanita first appears in US birth records in 1961 — 64 years ago. The typical Tanita alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 600 people named Tanita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tanita most popular?
Tanita peaked in 1976, reaching #2439 nationally. See the whole 1976 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Tanita
Tanita Tikaram, born in Germany to a Fijian-Indian father and a Malaysian mother and raised on British army bases, was nineteen when her song 'Twist in My Sobriety', with its oboe solo and lyrics nobody could quite explain, became a hit across Europe in 1988. Tanita shares her name, a soft three-syllable sound with a gentle -ita at the end. It sounds warm and a little mysterious.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Tanita may be a diminutive of Tania or a build of its own, and nothing records which.
Pronouncing Tanita
tuh-NEE-tuh
Three syllables with the stress on the second.
Nicknames for Tanita
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
- 1961
- Most girls named
- 198035 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2439reached in 1976
- Change vs 1999
- −28.6%5 in 2001, 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.
Tanitas among us
people named Tanita 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
Tanita 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
- Soft and easy to say.
- Rare, so a Tanita is unlikely to share her name.
- Close to familiar names.
- Tanita is also a well-known brand of bathroom scales.
- People may hear Anita or Juanita.
- It has no documented meaning of its own.
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Tanita
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Tanitas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Tanita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tanita in 2025?
- Tanita is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tanita with classmates?
- Tanita 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 Tanita? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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