Tejas
Masculine · “brilliance”
Tejas is a Sanskrit word for brilliance — not decorative shine but the fiery energy that makes a thing what it is. It is also, quite separately, the Spanish name for Texas, which comes from an entirely different language on another continent.
How old is the name Tejas?
Tejas first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Tejas alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,500 people named Tejas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tejas most popular?
Tejas peaked in 2013, reaching #1851 nationally. Today it ranks #2884, 1,033 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From tejas to Tejas
The story of Tejas
Tejas appears throughout Sanskrit literature for the fiery quality in things — in Ayurveda it is one of the five great elements, in the epics it is what makes a hero visibly formidable. Its use as a given name is modern and belongs to the wider Indian practice of taking names from classical vocabulary. The Spanish word is unrelated: Spanish explorers heard the Caddo greeting taysha, 'friend', took it for the name of the people, and wrote it tejas — which became the name of the state.
Meaning
brilliance, radiance, fiery energy
Sanskrit tejas means splendor, sharpness, heat and vital power all at once — it is what makes a blade sharp, a fire hot and a person impressive, and it is a technical term in Indian medicine and philosophy for one of the elements. The reading is documented. The Texas connection is coincidence: that name comes from a Caddo word, taysha, meaning friend or ally, which Spanish wrote as tejas.
How the name formed
- tejas
- Tejas
Related forms: तेजस् · Tejas · Tejas
Pronouncing Tejas
TAY-jus
Two syllables, stress on the first. Spanish says TEH-hahs, with an h sound where the j is — so the Sanskrit name and the Spanish word are said quite differently despite the identical spelling.
Nicknames for Tejas
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
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 201377 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1851reached in 2013
- Change vs 2024
- +53.6%43 in 2025, from 28
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.
Tejas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- तेजस् in Sanskrit — transliteration
- Tejas in Hindi — same name
- Tejas in Marathi — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Massachusetts.
Tejass among us
people named Tejas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 39,723 born in 2025 was named Tejas
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 Kemper test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tejas's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kemper climbed just as high around 1947, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kemper's path sketches the road Tejas is walking now.
Tejas 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 Tejas is headed
Tejas 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.
Tejas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tejas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An exact, documented and unusually vivid meaning from a classical vocabulary.
- Tej is a ready short form and a full name of its own in India.
- Five letters, entirely phonetic, and manageable for English speakers at first sight.
- Spanish speakers will read it as the word for Texas and say it with an h.
- The final s is part of the word and not a plural, which people will get wrong.
- Tejas and Tejash are related but separate names and get confused.
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What they receive
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Tejas
Masculine · #2884 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tejass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Tejas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tejas in 2025?
- Tejas ranks #2884 among US boy names in 2025, with 43 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tejas?
- About 1 in every 39,723 US boys born in 2025 was named Tejas — 43 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tejas with classmates?
- Tejas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tejas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kamal#2884 · Blu#2884 · Rafi#2884 · Minh#2884 · Shaquille#2884 · Arnav#2884 · Jayven#2884 · Hiro#2884
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tejas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tejas and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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