Tauna
Feminine
Tauna is a two-syllable American name from the middle of the twentieth century, soft at both ends. It rhymes with fauna and sauna, and it shares its au with haunt and taunt, a letter pair English reads in more ways than most.
How old is the name Tauna?
Tauna first appears in US birth records in 1945 — 80 years ago. The typical Tauna alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 600 people named Tauna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tauna most popular?
Tauna peaked in 1966, reaching #2308 nationally. See the whole 1966 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Tauna
Tauna sounds like the middle of a summer word: the long aw of dawn and lawn, then a soft -na that closes it the way Donna and Anna close. English gives the letters au a surprising range — the aw of haunt, the ah that some accents hear in aunt, the ow of the Greek letter tau as many people say it — and Tauna keeps that small puzzle at its center. It rhymes with fauna, the Latin word for the animals of a place, and with sauna, the best-known word English ever took from Finnish, without descending from either. It is a name made of sound, and the sound is warm and unhurried.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source for Tauna is documented. It stands close to Tawna and Tawny, which have one — tawny is the color of tanned leather — but nothing records that this spelling was built from them rather than simply sharing their sound.
Pronouncing Tauna
TAW-nuh
The spelling also allows TOW-nuh, rhyming with cow; TAW-nuh is the reading most people reach for first.
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
- 1945
- Most girls named
- 196627 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2308reached in 1966
- Change vs 1996
- −30.0%7 in 1999, from 10
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.
Taunas among us
people named Tauna 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
Tauna 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
- Two soft syllables that are easy to say.
- Very rare, so a Tauna is unlikely to share her name.
- Shares its sound with familiar English words, so it never feels foreign in the mouth.
- Tawna, Tonna and Taunna are all possible guesses; it will need spelling out.
- The au can be read two or three ways, so expect a mispronunciation on the first day.
- A playground may find 'taunt' in it; most children never notice, and it passes.
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Tauna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Taunas 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 Tauna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tauna in 2025?
- Tauna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tauna with classmates?
- Tauna 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 Tauna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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