# Tennessee (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/tennessee/  
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 and girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “winding river” |
| Pronunciation | /ˌtɛnəˈsiː/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 1,367 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 381 / 986 (72% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 39, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Cherokee ᏔᎾᏏ (tanasi), believed to mean “winding river”.

## What it means

Tennessee is grouped under river.

## 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 | 12 | 9,674 |
| 2012 | 16 | 7,769 |
| 2013 | 19 | 6,703 |
| 2014 | 24 | 5,615 |
| 2015 | 27 | 5,113 |
| 2016 | 24 | 5,598 |
| 2017 | 32 | 4,472 |
| 2018 | 30 | 4,652 |
| 2019 | 34 | 4,257 |
| 2020 | 21 | 5,833 |
| 2021 | 39 | 3,874 |
| 2022 | 26 | 5,161 |
| 2023 | 21 | 5,935 |
| 2024 | 20 | 6,140 |
| 2025 | 27 | 4,974 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 10 | 8,000 |
| 2012 | 11 | 7,498 |
| 2013 | 17 | 5,373 |
| 2014 | 19 | 5,043 |
| 2015 | 28 | 3,868 |
| 2016 | 24 | 4,310 |
| 2017 | 28 | 3,877 |
| 2018 | 26 | 4,087 |
| 2019 | 18 | 5,320 |
| 2020 | 17 | 5,428 |
| 2021 | 20 | 4,915 |
| 2022 | 18 | 5,414 |
| 2023 | 16 | 5,892 |
| 2024 | 11 | 7,704 |
| 2025 | 11 | 7,630 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 3 | 5,556 |
| 2020 | 3 | 5,493 |
| 2021 | 3 | 5,581 |
| 2022 | 6 | 3,533 |
| 2023 | 5 | 4,056 |
| 2024 | 8 | 3,015 |
| 2025 | 8 | 3,035 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 3 | 4,647 |

## People named Tennessee

- Tennessee Williams, American playwright (1911–1983)
- Tennessee Claflin, American suffragist (1844-1923)

## 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.