Tanuja

Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded; Sanskrit origin

Tanuja has been given to 5 babies in the U.S. since 1971. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1971, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Tanuja, 1971

1 in 686,000

Tanuja over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tanuja: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded; Sanskrit origin

Sanskrit

What Tanuja means

Tanuja is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Tanuja is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Tanuja between 1971 and 1971. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1971; its best national rank was #9,473 in 1971.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Tanuja?

Tanuja had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1971, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1971: 1 in 686,000; 5 of 3,432,187 births
Among girls only: 1 in 333,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1971: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 475,803 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Tanuja sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1971 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 475,803 children born in 1971 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tanuja. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tanujas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tanuja was born before 1971 — so the typical Tanuja is around 54 today.

Median birth year: 1971; About 54 years old
Biggest decade: 1970s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 5; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1970s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (5).

Is Tanuja rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1971 (5)
Years since peak: 54; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #9,473; 1971

Spellings of Tanuja

Tanuja is not the most common spelling — Tanya is, with 61.3% against Tanuja's <0.01%.

Tanya61.3%116,855
Tania15.2%28,891
Tana4.9%9,274
Tonja3.7%6,989
Taniya2.7%5,101
Tanika2.4%4,522
Tanna1.7%3,236
Anja1.5%2,797

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Tanuja around the world

Where Tanuja ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

South Australia
1996–1996
#712
in 1996

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Tanuja by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #9,473; 1971
Peak year: 1971; 5 that year
First recorded: 1971
Last recorded: 1971
All-time count: 5
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Tanuja

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Tanjie Tantra Tanida Tandis Tanyha Tanari Tanyea Taniha Tanyja Tansley Tankia Tanvir Tangle Tanila Tannar Tanglia Tanedra Tandice Taneiya Tanaa Tanicha Tanieya Tanusha Tansi

Sibling names for Tanuja

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Charisse Darcie Michell Kerrie Nicola Latonia Jenni Nicolle

For a brother

Shon Darrick Judd Douglass Alfonzo Scottie Erich Edwardo

Explore around Tanuja

Top names of 1971, Tanuja's peak year The 1970s in full Other names that peaked in 1971 Girls' names starting with T