Tequila
Feminine · “from a town in Jalisco”
Before it is a drink, Tequila is a town. It sits in the highlands of Jalisco, the volcanic soil around it grows the agave the spirit is made from, and the drink is named for the place in the ordinary way that champagne and cognac are. The place came first and the rules still say so.
How old is the name Tequila?
Tequila first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Tequila alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 2,100 people named Tequila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tequila most popular?
Tequila peaked in 1977, reaching #1034 nationally. See the whole 1977 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Tequila
The name reached American ears through a record with almost no words in it. At the end of the nineteen-fifties a saxophone instrumental, recorded as a throwaway B-side by a band assembled in an afternoon, went to the top of the charts on the strength of a riff and one spoken word shouted three times. It won the first Grammy ever given for a rock record. The word is the only lyric in the song. American parents began using the name in the same year, which is about as clean a demonstration as the record ever provides of a piece of music putting a word into circulation.
Meaning
from a town in Jalisco
The town's own name is from Nahuatl and its sense is debated, with proposals involving cutting and involving tribute. The identification of the drink with the town is not in doubt at all.
Pronouncing Tequila
tuh-KEE-luh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Spanish says the same, with a slightly crisper final vowel than English gives it.
Nicknames for Tequila
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
- 1958
- Most girls named
- 1977128 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1034reached in 1977
- Change vs 2011
- 0.0%5 in 2016, from 5
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.
Tequilas among us
people named Tequila 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
Tequila 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
- The rhythm is even and the name carries well at its length.
- It has short forms that carry none of the association.
- The sound is soft and every part of it is easy to say.
- It is the name of an alcoholic spirit and will be heard as that first, always.
- It is closely tied to the decades of its American use.
- The place behind it is real but almost nobody will know that.
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Tequila
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Tequilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Tequila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tequila in 2025?
- Tequila is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tequila with classmates?
- Tequila 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 Tequila? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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