# Tamara (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/tamara/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | “date palm” |
| Pronunciation | /təˈmɑɹə/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | Tam |
| Variant spellings | Tamera, Tamra, Kamala, Tamarah |
| US babies named this | 131,703 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 417 / 131,286 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3,444, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Of Slavic origin, mainly from Russian Тама́ра (Tamára), name of a 12th-century saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, cognate with English biblical Tamar, from Hebrew תמר (tāmār, “date palm”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 217 | 1,134 |
| 2012 | 203 | 1,209 |
| 2013 | 187 | 1,272 |
| 2014 | 168 | 1,381 |
| 2015 | 181 | 1,315 |
| 2016 | 155 | 1,484 |
| 2017 | 141 | 1,561 |
| 2018 | 114 | 1,798 |
| 2019 | 124 | 1,699 |
| 2020 | 107 | 1,839 |
| 2021 | 106 | 1,884 |
| 2022 | 120 | 1,741 |
| 2023 | 109 | 1,849 |
| 2024 | 115 | 1,767 |
| 2025 | 111 | 1,816 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 6 | 5,684 |
| 1979 | 19 | 2,556 |
| 1980 | 13 | 3,407 |
| 1981 | 11 | 3,825 |
| 1982 | 11 | 3,928 |
| 1983 | 13 | 3,394 |
| 1984 | 9 | 4,510 |
| 1985 | 16 | 3,059 |
| 1986 | 10 | 4,423 |
| 1987 | 7 | 6,017 |
| 1988 | 6 | 7,154 |
| 1989 | 13 | 4,243 |
| 1990 | 9 | 5,761 |
| 1991 | 6 | 8,121 |
| 2002 | 5 | 12,286 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 94 | 449 |
| 2012 | 98 | 458 |
| 2013 | 78 | 536 |
| 2014 | 80 | 527 |
| 2015 | 86 | 500 |
| 2016 | 79 | 537 |
| 2017 | 71 | 593 |
| 2018 | 44 | 843 |
| 2019 | 59 | 664 |
| 2020 | 44 | 821 |
| 2021 | 47 | 779 |
| 2022 | 45 | 796 |
| 2023 | 45 | 794 |
| 2024 | 32 | 1,065 |
| 2025 | 39 | 894 |

## In other languages

- Chinese: 塔瑪拉 /塔玛拉
- Esperanto: Tamara
- French: Tamara
- Georgian: თამარი
- German: Tamara
- Hebrew: תמרה
- Latvian: Tamāra
- Polish: Tamara
- Portuguese: Tamara
- Russian: Тама́ра
- Spanish: Tamara

## People named Tamara

- Tamara E. Jernigan, astronaut
- Tamara Bunke, Argentinian revolutionary (1937–1967)
- Tamara Taylor, Canadian actress (born 1970)
- Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Georgian-Russian singer, actress and composer
- Tamara Csipes, canoeist
- Tamara Gee, American pop singer
- Tamara Tyshkevich, Belarusian shot putter (1931-1997)
- Tamar Abakelia, Georgian sculptor, theater designer and illustrator (1905-1953)
- Tamara Tunie, American actress (1959-)
- Tamara Horacek, French handball player
- Tamara Dobson, American actress and model (1944–2006)
- Tamara McKinney, American alpine skier

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.