Tiger
Masculine · “the tiger”
Tiger is given to both — 1,248 boys and 62 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Tiger is the English word, and the animal's name has been traveling west since antiquity — Greek took tigris from Persian, and the river Tigris may carry the same word for its speed.
How old is the name Tiger?
Tiger first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Tiger alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,200 people named Tiger are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tiger most popular?
Tiger peaked in 1998, reaching #1246 nationally. Today it ranks #3658, 2,412 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From tigris to Tiger
The story of Tiger
Greeks met tigers through Persian intermediaries and took the word with the animal. Whether the river Tigris shares the root is argued, but ancient writers thought so and said the river ran like an arrow. English took the word from French in the thirteenth century. Its use as a given name is recent and American, and it rose sharply in the late 1990s for reasons connected to golf rather than zoology.
Meaning
the tiger
From Greek tigris, borrowed from an Iranian language; the Avestan tighri means an arrow, and the connection to the animal's speed and to the fast-flowing Tigris river has been proposed since antiquity.
How the name formed
- tigris
- tigre
- tiger
Related forms: Tigre · Tigre · Tigra
Pronouncing Tiger
TY-ger
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Tiger
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
- 1962
- Most boys named
- 2010130 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1246reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- +25.0%30 in 2025, from 24
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.
Tiger in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tigre in Spanish — related form
- Tigre in French — related form
- Tigra in Persian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Tigers among us
people named Tiger are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 56,936 born in 2025 was named Tiger
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tiger
- #3658
- Tiger on the 2025 chart
- #889
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tiger went to 30 boys in 2025, but Tyger is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 39, which makes it the 889th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,769 places above the chart.
- Tiger30
- Tyger9
About 1 boy in 43,797 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 56,936 for Tiger itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kenith test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tiger's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kenith climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kenith's path sketches the road Tiger is walking now.
Tiger 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 Tiger is headed
Tiger should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Tiger beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tiger in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An ordinary English word, so nobody has to be taught to say or spell it.
- The word's journey from Persian through Greek is genuinely interesting.
- Ty is a plain, permanent short form.
- A golfer is the reason most Americans recognize the name, and it was his own nickname.
- An animal name sets a personality the child did not choose.
- It is a very definite statement and will be remarked on for life.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Tiger to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Tiger
Masculine · #3658 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tigers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Tiger are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tiger?
- Tiger is the most-used spelling in US records — 30 of the 39 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Tyger.
- How popular is the name Tiger in 2025?
- Tiger ranks #3658 among US boy names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tiger?
- About 1 in every 56,936 US boys born in 2025 was named Tiger — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tiger with classmates?
- Tiger will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tiger
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jimmie#3658 · Mckinley#3658 · Menno#3658 · Claudio#3658 · Ezekial#3658 · Brandt#3658 · Benuel#3658 · Gustav#3658
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tiger? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tiger 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
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