girl's name
Tammy
TAM-ee
- Origin Hebrew
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 336,054
Northern Ireland
#489
2008 births
Tammy is a girl's name meaning palm tree, a pet form of Tamara. It belongs to the mid-century American cohort that fell hardest in our data, dropping from 21,246 births in 1963 to 41.
- Tammy is a name of Hebrew origin.
- Peaked in 1963, when 21,246 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 80,867 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1934.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Tammy over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1930s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 37 |
| 1940s | 490 |
| 1950s | 29,342 |
| 1960s | 182,845 |
| 1970s | 99,287 |
| 1980s | 15,774 |
| 1990s | 3,331 |
| 2000s | 1,561 |
| 2010s | 545 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 195 |
What Tammy means
Tammy means palm tree, or date palm, carried through Tamara from Hebrew. The palm was a symbol of uprightness and fruitfulness in the ancient Near East, which is what the name traded on.
Where Tammy comes from
Tammy is clipped from Tamara, the Russian form of the Hebrew Tamar, a date palm. Two women in the Hebrew Bible carry it, and both stories are difficult: Tamar in Genesis, who tricks Judah into fathering her children after he denies her his surviving son, and Tamar in Samuel, raped by her half-brother Amnon. Tammy can equally shorten Thomasina, from the Aramaic for a twin, which is a wholly separate name. The pet form's American rise is mid-century and its 1957 film and 1963 song made it briefly ubiquitous.
Tammy in use
Tammy peaked in the United States in 1963, when 21,246 babies were registered, and now ranks 3678th there on 41 births and 6986th in England and Wales. That is a fall by a factor of roughly 518, the eighth-steepest in our data. Our records carry it only from 1934, so its entire measured life — from nothing, to twenty-one thousand a year, to forty-one — fits inside ninety years, across 336,054 lifetime births.
How popular is Tammy?
In 2025, Tammy was given to 41 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Tammy is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Tammy
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Tammy also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Tammy over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Tammy in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Belarusian
- Tamara
- Czech
- Tamara
- Dutch
- Tamara
- Finnish
- Tamara
- Galician
- Tamara
- Hungarian
- Tamara
- Italian
- Tamara
- Polish
- Tamara
- Russian
- Tamara
- Seediq
- Tami
- Serbian
- Tamara
- Slovene
- Tamara
- Ukrainian
- Tamara
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Thomasina
Sibling names for Tammy
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Tammy — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Tammy
What does the name Tammy mean?
Palm tree, carried through Tamara from the Hebrew Tamar.
Is Tammy short for Tamara?
Usually, though it can equally shorten Thomasina, which is an unrelated name meaning twin.
Why did Tammy decline so sharply?
It fell from 21,246 births in 1963 to 41 — the eighth-steepest fall in our data, alongside Debra, Cheryl and Debbie.
How popular is Tammy?
3678th in the United States on 41 births.
Is Tammy a girl's or a boy's name?
Tammy is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Tammy?
Tammy has 2 syllables.
Is Tammy a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Tammy currently ranks #3,678 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.