# Tait (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/tait/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for a cheerful or lively person.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norse |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 6,271 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,540 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 49,234 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.9% (6,037 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /teɪt/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Middle English Tayte, Tayt, Teyt (personal name), from Middle English tayt, teyte (“cheerful, merry”), from Old Norse teitr (“cheerful, glad”), from Proto-Germanic *taitaz (“glad, delicate, tender, radiant”). Cognate with Old English tāt (“glad”, attested in names), Old High German zeiz (“loving, pleasant, tender”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Tait in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Tait in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

## People named Tait

- Sarah Tait, Australian rower (1983–2016)
- Alice Tait, Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, world champion, former world record-holder
- Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
- Douglas Tait, American actor, stuntman, and independent filmmaker
- Michael Tait, American contemporary Christian music artist
- Charles Tait, American politician (1768–1835)
- Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury; Bishop of London; Dean of Carlisle (1811-1882)

## Similar surnames

Tate, Tat, Tito, Tata, Todd, Toth, Tutt, Tweedy, Twitty, Tweed, Tadeo, Tidd.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.