# Tao (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/tao/  
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 | boys |
| Origin | Chinese |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 443 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 433 / 10 (2% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 209, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 陶 (Táo).

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 10 | 6,742 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 15 | 5,916 |
| 2012 | 15 | 5,957 |
| 2013 | 7 | 10,600 |
| 2014 | 13 | 6,584 |
| 2015 | 15 | 5,959 |
| 2016 | 17 | 5,530 |
| 2017 | 11 | 7,486 |
| 2018 | 13 | 6,657 |
| 2019 | 9 | 8,796 |
| 2020 | 9 | 8,654 |
| 2021 | 20 | 4,913 |
| 2022 | 16 | 5,841 |
| 2023 | 12 | 7,250 |
| 2024 | 8 | 9,762 |
| 2025 | 16 | 5,824 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3 | 3,912 |
| 2003 | 3 | 4,373 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 6 | 2,892 |
| 2012 | 5 | 3,416 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2,216 |
| 2014 | 8 | 2,459 |
| 2015 | 5 | 3,373 |
| 2016 | 9 | 2,335 |
| 2017 | 5 | 3,449 |
| 2018 | 8 | 2,445 |
| 2019 | 6 | 3,013 |
| 2020 | 8 | 2,404 |
| 2021 | 11 | 1,984 |
| 2022 | 13 | 1,781 |
| 2023 | 14 | 1,701 |
| 2024 | 11 | 2,088 |
| 2025 | 7 | 2,952 |

## People named Tao

- Tao Geoghegan Hart, British road cyclist
- Zhao Tao, Chinese actress
- Tao Porchon-Lynch, American Yoga Instructor
- Wang Tao, Chinese footballer born 1970 (1970–2022)
- Yin Tao, Chinese actress
- Song Tao, diplomat of the People's Republic of China
- Keung To, Chinese singer and actor

## 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.