How Many People Are Named Tess?
An estimated 13,735 people in the United States have the first name Tess. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 27 years old, and Tess peaked in popularity in 1992 with 529 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Tess as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Tess paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
13,735
About 1 in 24,955 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
100.0% confidence
Average Age
27
years old
Peak Year
1992
529 births
Total Registered
14,653
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Tess
Tess is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 14,653 total births registered, 100.0% were female.
Tess as a female name
Ranked #1,784 in 2024
113 female births in 2024
Peak: 1992 (529 births)
Tess: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Tess span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1990s, when 4,557 babies were registered. Tess has declined significantly from its peak in the 1990s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Tess by Decade
How has Tess tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Tess by State
Birth registrations for Tess span all 44 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, New York, Massachusetts. The lowest are in South Carolina, Nevada, Maine. On average, about 250 Tesss were registered per state.
Tess + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Tess as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Tess
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
Tess: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tess?
We estimate approximately 13,735 people named Tess are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 24,955 Americans share this first name.
Is Tess a common name?
Tess is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.1% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 14,653 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Tess most popular?
Tess reached peak popularity in 1992, when 529 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Tess is approximately 27 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Tess a female name?
Tess is predominantly female. 100.0% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Tess Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Tess Smith, Tess Johnson, Tess Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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