Tyrone
Feminine · “Eoghan's land”
Tyrone is given to boys far more often — 79,437 boys against 709 girls since 1880. See Tyrone as a boy name
Tyrone is an Irish county that became an American man's name and never went home: it is common in the United States and almost unheard of as a first name in Ireland. The county's own history is the reason a great many American families have Ulster surnames.
How old is the name Tyrone?
Tyrone first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Tyrone alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 700 people named Tyrone are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tyrone most popular?
Tyrone peaked in 1964, reaching #2306 nationally. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Tír Eoghain to Tyrone
The story of Tyrone
When the Gaelic lords of Ulster left Ireland in the early seventeenth century, their lands were declared forfeit and granted out under a scheme that brought in settlers from lowland Scotland and northern England on condition that they build, farm and defend. That scheme is the origin of the Ulster Scots, and it is why Ulster's religious and political map looks different from the rest of the island. A century later, squeezed by rent increases and poor harvests, very large numbers of those families left again for America, landed mostly at Philadelphia and moved down the valleys into the backcountry, where they became the dominant settler population of Appalachia. Their surnames, their speech, their fiddle tunes and their suspicion of landlords all traveled with them. Two forced migrations, a hundred years apart, put an Ulster county's name onto American birth certificates.
Meaning
Eoghan's land
The Irish name of the county joins the word for a territory to a personal name, marking the land held by one dynasty. What that personal name itself means is a separate and unsettled question, with a Greek borrowing and a native word for a yew both proposed.
How the name formed
- Tír Eoghain
- Tyrone
Related forms: Tír Eoghain
Pronouncing Tyrone
ty-ROHN
Two syllables with the stress at the back in American English. The Irish pronunciation of the county puts the weight differently and sounds noticeably unlike the American name.
Nicknames for Tyrone
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
- 1948
- Most girls named
- 197031 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2306reached in 1964
- Change vs 1995
- 0.0%5 in 1996, 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.
Tyrone in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tír Eoghain in Irish — related form
Tyrones among us
people named Tyrone 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
Tyrone 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
- Back stress gives the name a firm shape and real carrying power.
- Ty detaches at once and needs no explanation anywhere.
- It names a real place with a documented meaning.
- It is strongly associated with particular American decades and communities.
- In Ireland it reads as a county rather than as a person's name.
- Tyron and Tyrome are both recorded and will be written for it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Tyrone 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 Tyrone? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Tyrone
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Tyrones are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Tyrone are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tyrone in 2025?
- Tyrone is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tyrone with classmates?
- Tyrone 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 Tyrone? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tyrone 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