Tate

About Tate

Tate is an English surname used as a given name, with roots in the Old English personal name Tata. Its probable meaning is “happy” or “glad.” The modern name is brief and sharply defined in sound, while its namesakes include pop singer and dancer Tate McRae and actor Tate Donovan.

An older name behind the surname

The surname Tate developed from Tata, an Old English name. Tata is probably connected with a word meaning “happy” or “glad,” although that interpretation remains qualified. The family name carried the older personal name forward before Tate acquired its modern use as a first name.

Tate McRae

Calgary-born performer Tate McRae first attracted attention through dance. At thirteen, she became the first Canadian finalist on So You Think You Can Dance. She began releasing singles in 2017, followed by the EP All the Things I Never Said in 2020 and her debut album I Used to Think I Could Fly in 2022.

Her second album, Think Later, arrived on December 8, 2023. Its fourteen tracks include Greedy, whose dance-driven pop brought her singing and performance backgrounds together. McRae’s career gives Tate a prominent feminine association in current music, even as American birth records show the name more often assigned to boys.

Tate Donovan and Hercules

Actor Tate Donovan voiced the title character in Disney’s Hercules. The animated feature, which premiered in 1997, follows the son of Zeus and Hera after he is taken from Olympus and made mortal while retaining his extraordinary strength. His journey toward becoming a true hero supplies the story’s central question.

Donovan returned to the role in the Hercules television series, which debuted on August 31, 1998. Across sixty-five episodes, the series explored the character’s younger years as a hero in training. Its cast also included James Woods as Hades, French Stewart as Icarus, and Sandra Bernhard as Cassandra. Donovan’s work therefore connects Tate with both the feature film and a longer television version of its mythological world.

Donovan also appeared on screen as Howard Plummer in The Pacifier, released in 2005. The family comedy stars Vin Diesel as a Navy SEAL assigned to protect the children of an assassinated scientist, bringing military action into a chaotic household.

Pronunciation and American popularity

Tate is pronounced TAYT, rhyming with late. It has one syllable, with a t sound at either end. That repeated consonant gives it a particularly crisp outline, while the long middle vowel keeps the sound open.

In the United States, Tate rose from 547 boys in 2000 to 717 in 2010. In 2025 it reached its strongest ranking and largest count: #194, with 1,862 boys. The same year also brought the highest recorded count for girls, 160, ranking #1,379. These separate series show a name growing in use for both sexes, with a substantially larger male total.

How popular is Tate?

In 2025, Tate ranked #194 among boys in the United States, with 1,862 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1912; its largest annual count was 1,862 in 2025. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.