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Tennille

#17,029 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Tennille has been given to 2,199 babies in the U.S. since 1975. In 2025 it ranked #17,029 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1976, with 769 recorded.

Babies named Tennille, 2025

1 in 663,000

Tennille over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tennille: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Tennille means

Tennille is a given name.

The naming story behind Tennille

Wikidata records Tennille as a female given name. The entity identifier is Q118320459, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,184 girls were recorded with the name Tennille between 1975 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 769 in 1976; its best national rank was #300 in 1976.

In the United States, 15 boys were recorded with the name Tennille between 1976 and 1977. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1976; its best national rank was #4,378 in 1976.

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.

How common is Tennille?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 321,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#17,029
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Tennille 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 2025 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 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tennille. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tennilles were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tennille was born before 1977 — so the typical Tennille is around 48 today.

Median birth year
1977
About 48 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
71.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,184
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 71.0% of all recorded uses (1,551).

Is Tennille 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
−3,686
Places dropped
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
0.65%
Peak was 1976 (769)
Years since peak
49
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#300
1976

Tennille’s breakout year

Among the small set of names that had a single, unmistakable year — a surge well above the years on either side of it.

In 1976, 769 girls were named Tennille — about #300 that year — roughly 5.9× as many as in the surrounding years, before it settled back. What the data can’t say is why; the story behind the year is one you’ll likely recognise. Other one-hit wonders

Spellings of Tennille

Tennille is not the most common spelling — Tennie is, with 39.3% against Tennille's 30.9%.

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.

Where Tennille is used

Across 1910–2025, Tennille was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 33,333 girls, against 1 in 104,045 across all states with data. It was least common in Oregon (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 33,333
  2. 2Idaho1 in 50,000
  3. 3Illinois1 in 50,000
  4. 4Maryland1 in 50,000
  5. 5Alabama1 in 100,000
  6. 6Arkansas1 in 100,000
  7. 7Arizona1 in 100,000
  8. 8California1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Tennille has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Tennille around the world

Where Tennille 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.

  • England & Wales
    1997–1997
    #3,174
    in 1997
  • Canada
    1993–1993
    #1,917
    in 1993
  • South Australia
    1975–2009
    #818
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Tennille in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Tennille. Linked forms have their own page here.

Tenille

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Tennille by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#17,029
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#300
1976
Peak year
1976
769 that year
First recorded
1975
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,184
Count in 2025
5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,378
1976
Peak year
1976
8 that year
First recorded
1976
Last recorded
1977
All-time count
15
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Tennille

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

TenilleTennelleTeneilleArabelleJeanelleTennesseeTennysonTenelleChevelleMaebelleMishelleAdrielleJannelleAurielleMarielleAbrielleIzabelleShanelleTenielleRoselleDarielleTenzinLynelleChanelle

Names with a curve like Tennille

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Tennille, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KizzyTomikaTarshaTomekaMendyTamicaCicelyJanuaryLatrinaAnitraQianaCrissy

Sibling names for Tennille

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

Explore around Tennille

Top names of 1976, Tennille's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1976Girls' names starting with T