Tatum

About Tatum

Tatum is an English surname name meaning Tata's homestead. It is now used for both girls and boys in the United States, with strong recent growth in both series. Actor Tatum O'Neal gave it a particularly memorable public association when she won an Oscar for Paper Moon as a child.

Place name and surname

The surname Tatum developed from an English place name understood as Tata's homestead. Tata is the personal name within that older compound; the second part identifies the settlement.

Its route into modern given-name use therefore passes through a place and a family name. Tatum retains the full surname shape, with two syllables and a final m.

Taytum is a close spelling variant. The added y makes the opening vowel more explicit on the page while preserving the familiar sound.

Tatum O'Neal and Paper Moon

Tatum O'Neal won the Supporting Actress Oscar for Paper Moon at the 1974 Academy Awards. She was ten years old at the ceremony, making her a remarkable child performer in the history of competitive acting awards.

The film itself appeared in 1973. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, it pairs O'Neal with her father, Ryan O'Neal, in a story about an itinerant con man and the recently orphaned girl who joins him.

Their characters form a wary working partnership. The adult sells Bibles through dishonest schemes, while the child proves capable of matching his quick thinking and his skill at deception.

The black-and-white film gives Tatum a screen association quite different from a generic childhood role. O'Neal's performance depends on the child's resourcefulness and on the shifting balance between the two central characters.

The award came on April 2, 1974. Distinguishing that ceremony from the film's 1973 release keeps the chronology of her breakthrough clear.

Later screen visibility

Tatum appeared again as a character name in the 1996 horror film Scream. That later use belongs to a different generation and genre from Paper Moon.

The spelling's American popularity became more substantial after the mid-1990s. Its public history therefore includes both an especially famous real-life child performer and later fictional use, rather than relying on one moment of recognition.

Pronunciation

Tatum is TAY-tum, with two syllables and stress on the first. The opening syllable rhymes with “day,” while the second vowel is unstressed.

Its final m gives it a different ending from many other modern surname names. Taytum keeps the same rhythm with an expanded spelling.

American popularity

For girls, Tatum rose from 675 births in 2000 to 965 in 2010. Its strongest count and rank came in 2025, with 1,661 births and number 189.

Boys' use grew from forty-three births in 2000 to 301 in 2010. It peaked at 1,841 in 2024, ranking 195, followed by 1,736 in 2025 at number 202. The male and female series now have comparable counts, despite different earlier patterns.

How popular is Tatum?

In 2025, Tatum ranked #189 among girls in the United States, with 1,661 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1966; its largest annual count was 1,661 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.