Name Awesome

Tiernan

#3,839 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Lord

Tiernan has been given to 1,676 babies in the U.S. since 1985. In 2025 it ranked #3,839 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2007, with 86 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 88% boys, 12% girls all-time.

Babies named Tiernan, 2025

1 in 114,000

Tiernan over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Tiernan over time

In 2025, Tiernan went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19852025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Tiernan: meaning, origin, and history

Lord

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Tiernan means

Tiernan means “lord”, associated with Tiarna.

Origin, language, and formation

Tiernan is used in English.

Tiernan comes through Irish Tiarnán.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,481 boys were recorded with the name Tiernan between 1985 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 86 in 2007; its best national rank was #1,738 in 2007.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,839 in 2020 to #3,839 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,677 in 2015 to #3,839 in 2025.

In the United States, 195 girls were recorded with the name Tiernan between 1989 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2002; its best national rank was #6,109 in 2002.

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 Tiernan?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 114,000
29 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 58,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,839
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
79,239 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Tiernan sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 79,239 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tiernan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tiernans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tiernan was born before 2008 — so the typical Tiernan is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
44.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
85.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,481
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 44.6% of all recorded uses (660).

Is Tiernan 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
+343
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,000
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,162
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.63×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
33.7%
Peak was 2007 (86)
Years since peak
18
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,738
2007

Spellings of Tiernan

Tiernan is not the most common spelling — Kieran is, with 59.7% against Tiernan's 5.0%.

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 Tiernan is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Tiernan was most concentrated in Colorado — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 248,945 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Colorado1 in 100,000
  2. 2New York1 in 100,000
  3. 3California1 in —
  4. 4Connecticut1 in —
  5. 5Massachusetts1 in —
  6. 6Missouri1 in —
  7. 7North Carolina1 in —
  8. 8Ohio1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Tiernan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Tiernan is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Tiernan was most concentrated in Massachusetts — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 794,003 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Massachusetts1 in —

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. Tiernan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Tiernan around the world

Where Tiernan 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
    1996–2025
    #2,952
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2004–2025
    #441
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2025
    #99
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1964–2025
    #115
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1997–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1988–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Tiernan by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,839
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,000
Best rank ever
#1,738
2007
Peak year
2007
86 that year
First recorded
1985
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,481
Count in 2025
29

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,109
2002
Peak year
2002
19 that year
First recorded
1989
Last recorded
2018
All-time count
195
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Tiernan

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

KiernanKennanCainanKainanTienKananDartagnanJohananConanHernanTierreFinnanAdnanTynanKannanYochananCannanKaynanYohananBrenanBrannanKenanSinanKeinan

Sibling names for Tiernan

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 Tiernan

Top names of 2007, Tiernan's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2007Boys' names starting with T