Taz
Masculine
Taz is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 525 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Taz is a cartoon animal's nickname that became a name. The Tasmanian Devil first appeared in a Warner Brothers short in 1954, was revived heavily in the 1990s, and was known universally as Taz. American birth records show the name arriving in numbers in exactly those years and peaking in 1993, which is about as clean an attribution as a modern name gets.
How old is the name Taz?
Taz first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Taz alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 500 people named Taz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Taz most popular?
Taz peaked in 1993, reaching #2697 nationally. Today it ranks #5861, 3,164 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Tasman to Taz
Our story of Taz
Names that arrive from cartoons have a distinct statistical fingerprint, and Taz has it. They appear from nothing, rise within two or three years of a character's peak visibility, hold for about a decade and then fall away almost completely — the shape of a fashion rather than of a tradition. What makes this one interesting is what got chosen. The character is a whirlwind of destructive appetite who cannot speak; the name that came off him is three letters, one syllable, ends in a z, and reads as fast and slightly dangerous. That is a set of properties a parent might want in a boy's name quite independently of the cartoon, and it is why Taz survived past the character's own popularity while most cartoon-derived names do not. The sound was doing work the source did not supply.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is no word behind Taz. It is a clipping of Tasmanian, which is from Tasmania, which is named after Abel Tasman, the seventeenth-century Dutch navigator who was the first European to reach the island — so the deepest ancestry available is a Dutch surname. As a given name Taz may also be a short form of Tasman, Tazwell or Anastasius, and a few bearers reach it that way. Any dictionary gloss offered for it is invented.
How the name formed
- Tasman
- Tasmanian
- Taz
Pronouncing Taz
TAZ
One syllable, rhyming with jazz. There is no ambiguity anywhere in the spelling and nobody has to be taught it.
Nicknames for Taz
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
- 1960
- Most boys named
- 199326 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2697reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −28.6%15 in 2025, from 21
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.
Taz in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Washington.
Tazs among us
people named Taz are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 113,872 born in 2025 was named Taz
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Fergus test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Taz's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Fergus climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Fergus's path sketches the road Taz is walking now.
Taz 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
Taz beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Taz in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters, one syllable, and immediately spellable by anyone who hears it.
- The final z gives it an unusual and memorable sound for an English name.
- It works as a standalone name or as a short form of Tasman or Anastasius.
- The cartoon association is immediate for anyone who grew up in the 1990s.
- One-syllable names leave a bearer with no nickname in reserve.
- There is no meaning to give when someone asks.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Taz to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Taz? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Taz
Masculine · #5861 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tazs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Taz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Taz in 2025?
- Taz ranks #5861 among US boy names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Taz?
- About 1 in every 113,872 US boys born in 2025 was named Taz — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Taz with classmates?
- Taz will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Taz
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eber#5861 · Wilton#5861 · Ruby#5861 · Stacy#5861 · Garner#5861 · Caldwell#5861 · Severin#5861 · Newton#5861
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Taz? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Taz and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle