How popular is the baby name Tennille in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Tennille.

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Popularity of the baby name Tennille


Posts that mention the name Tennille

Baby names with TEN: Tenley, Ortensia, Quinten

ten ball (pool)

If you’re looking for a baby name that’s a “perfect ten” — that is to say, a name that contains the word TEN — you’re in luck!

Here’s a long list of names with the letter sequence “t-e-n.” Most of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data.

  • Aften
  • Alten
  • Anisten, Annisten
  • Antenette
  • Artena
  • Ashten
  • Asten
  • Aten
  • Atena
  • Atenas
  • Atenea
  • Augusten
  • Austen
  • Axten
  • Ayten
  • Benten
  • Berten
  • Bertena
  • Bexten
  • Blayten
  • Bosten
  • Branten
  • Braxten, Braxsten
  • Brayten
  • Brenten, Brentten
  • Brexten
  • Briggsten
  • Brighten, Bryten
  • Bristen
  • Britten
  • Britteny, Britteney, Briteny, Britteni
  • Brixten
  • Brysten
  • Carsten
  • Catena
  • Catenia
  • Charlesten
  • Chasten, Chaysten
  • Chayten
  • Chazten
  • Christen, Chrysten, Cristen, Crysten
  • Christena
  • Christene, Chrystene, Cristene
  • Christensen
  • Clayten
  • Clementene
  • Clinten
  • Clotene
  • Coasten
  • Colsten
  • Colten, Coleten, Coulten
  • Constence
  • Contenia
  • Content
  • Courteney, Courtenay, Courteny
  • Dalten
  • Daxten
  • Dayten, Daiten
  • Desten
  • Destene
  • Desteny, Desteney, Destenee, Destenie, Desteni
  • Dexten
  • Doristene
  • Dristen
  • Dusten
  • Easten
  • Ernestene, Earnestene
  • Esten
  • Faten
  • Gaten
  • Goten
  • Gustena
  • Haisten, Haysten
  • Halsten
  • Hasten
  • Hiten
  • Holten
  • Hortense, Hortence, Hartense
  • Hortensia, Hortencia, Ortensia, Ortencia
  • Housten
  • Huxten
  • Jacksten, Jaxten
  • Jasten
  • Jaten
  • Jaysten
  • Jayten
  • Jesten, Jessten
  • Jestene
  • Jiten
  • Jitender
  • Jitendra
  • Josten
  • Justen
  • Justene
  • Karsten
  • Kashten, Cashten
  • Kasten, Casten
  • Katen
  • Katena
  • Katenia
  • Kaysten
  • Kayten
  • Keaten
  • Kelten
  • Kenten
  • Keristen
  • Kersten, Kirsten, Kyrsten
  • Keyten, Keiten
  • Kiersten, Keirsten, Kearsten, Kiirsten
  • Kingsten, Kyngsten
  • Kipten, Kypten
  • Kiristen
  • Kisten
  • Kitten
  • Kjersten, Kjirsten
  • Klayten
  • Knighten
  • Kolsten
  • Kolten, Kohlten
  • Kosten
  • Kresten
  • Kristen, Krysten, Khristen
  • Kristene
  • Kristena, Krystena
  • Kursten
  • Kyersten
  • Kyten
  • Laten
  • Layten
  • Latenya
  • Lieutenant
  • Loften
  • Loistene
  • Marten, Maarten
  • Martena
  • Martene
  • Matten
  • Maxten
  • Merten
  • Montene
  • Morten
  • Oluwateniola
  • Osten
  • Paxten
  • Peyten, Payten, Paiten, Paytten, Peighten
  • Presten
  • Princeten
  • Quenten
  • Quinten, Quinnten
  • Riften
  • Risten
  • Rusten
  • Rutendo
  • Sixten
    • Two numbers in one!
  • Slaten
  • Sostenes
  • Staten
  • Sten
  • Stena
  • Stennis
  • Stratten
  • Sutten
  • Taten
  • Tayten, Taiten
  • Ten
  • Tena, Tenna
  • Tenaj
  • Tenaja, Tenajah
  • Tenara
  • Tenasha
  • Tenasia
  • Tenay, Tenae
  • Tenaya
  • Tench
  • Tenchi
  • Tency
  • Tendai
  • Tendra
  • Tendria
  • Tene
  • Teneca
  • Tenecia, Tenesia
  • Tenee
  • Teneha
  • Teneia
  • Teneka, Teneika
  • Teneke
  • Tenequa
  • Tenesa, Tenessa
  • Tenesha, Teneisha, Teniesha, Teneasha, Tennesha
  • Teneshia
  • Tenesia
  • Teneya, Tenea
  • Teng
  • Tengis
  • Tenia, Teniah, Teniya, Teniyah, Tennia
  • Tenicia
  • Tenika, Tenica,Tenicka
  • Tenina
  • Teniola
  • Teniqua
  • Tenise
  • Tenisha, Teneesha, Tenicha
  • Tenishia, Teneeshia
  • Tenita
  • Tenley, Tenly, Tenlee, Tenlie, Tenli, Tenleigh, Tennley
  • Tenneh
  • Tennelle, Tenelle, Tennell
  • Tennille, Tennile, Tenille, Tenile, Tennielle, Tenielle, Tenniel, Teneille, Tenneill, Tenneil, Teneile, Teneil, Tenneal, Teneal
  • Tenner
  • Tennessee
  • Tennie, Tenny, Tenie, Teny
  • Tennill
  • Tennillie
  • Tennis, Tennys
  • Tennyson, Tennison, Tenneson, Tennasyn
  • Tenoch
  • Tenor
  • Tenora
  • Tensie
  • Tensley, Tenslee
  • Tenuun
  • Tenya
  • Tenyce
  • Tenzin
  • Tenzing
  • Tenzley
  • Thorsten
  • Thristen
  • Torsten
  • Trenten
  • Tresten
  • Treyten, Trayten
  • Trinten
  • Tristen, Trysten
  • Trusten
  • Tyten
  • Varteni
  • Westen
  • Whiteny
  • Whitten, Witten
  • Winsten
  • Yasten

Many of these names are variants of –ton names (like Clayton, Dalton, and Winston), and several others are variants of –ine names (like Christine, Justine, and Clementine).

Which TEN name do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. You may also want to check out baby names with the letter X, as the Roman numeral X (“decem”) has a value of 10. Here are girl names starting with X and boy names starting with X, for instance.

P.P.S. Speaking of “perfect 10” names, here’s a post about Nadia Comaneci. :)

Image: Adapted from 10 ball by Reggie Alvey under CC BY-SA 2.0.

What popularized the baby name Tennille in the 1970s?

music, 1970s, baby name, tennille
Captain and Tennille

The baby name Tennille debuted impressively in the U.S. baby name data in 1975. In fact, it was one of the top debut names of the 1970s overall. It also inspired dozens of variant spellings (even more than Deneen had!):

Name1974197519761977
Tanielle5*.77
Tennille.103*769425
Tenille.18*124107
Taneal.11*9.
Tanelle.5*10.
Tyneal.5*..
Tennile..32*26
Tennelle..20*19
Taneil..14*5
Tenelle..13*8
Tennielle..13*.
Teneil..12*7
Teneal..11*.
Tenile..11*.
Tanille..10*.
Teneille..10*5
Tannille..8*.
Tenneal..8*.
Tennell..8*5
Tenneil..7*.
Tennillie..7*.
Taniel..6*.
Tenniel..6*.
Tinelle..6*.
Taneille..5*.
Teneile..5*.
Tenneill..5*.
Tenneille...5*
Tennill...5*
Tinnelle...5*
TOTAL51421,136629
*Debut

(Tyneal, Tennielle, Tannille, Tenneal, Tennillie, Tinelle, Taneille, Teneile, Tenneill, Tenneille, Tennill, and Tinnelle were one-hit wonders.)

Tennille’s trendiness only lasted a few years, but the name was popular enough to reach the top 1,000 for three years straight in the late 1970s:

  • 1981: 87 baby girls named Tennille
  • 1980: 140 baby girls named Tennille
  • 1979: 113 baby girls named Tennille
  • 1978: 141 baby girls named Tennille [rank: 984th]
  • 1977: 425 baby girls named Tennille [rank: 462nd]
  • 1976: 769 baby girls named Tennille [rank: 300th]
  • 1975: 103 baby girls named Tennille (debut)
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: unlisted

So, where did the name come from?

The musical duo Captain & Tennille, made up of married couple “Captain” Daryl Dragon and Cathryn Antoinette “Toni” Tennille. Their first hit song was the very ’70s-sounding “Love Will Keep Us Together,” which was released in April of 1975 and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June.

The band got even bigger in 1976: “Love Will Keep Us Together” won the Grammy for Record of the Year, “Muskrat Love” became their second hit, and they began hosting the weekly Captain and Tennille variety show on television. (It lasted 20 episodes.)

The surname Tennille is probably of French origin. My guess is that it’s a variant of Tenniel, which is thought to derive from the French place name Thénioux.

Do you like Tennille as a baby name? Would you use it? (How would you spell it?)

Sources:

P.S. Did you know that there are two Canadian country singers named Tenille?

How did Vietnamese immigration influence U.S. baby names in 1975?

Vietnamese family at Fort Chaffee
Vietnamese family at Fort Chaffee

The fall of Saigon in April 1975 marked not only the end of the Vietnam War, but also the start of large-scale Vietnamese immigration to the United States. (An estimated 125,000 Vietnamese refugees were evacuated to the U.S.)

The same year, dozens of Vietnamese names debuted in the U.S. baby name data. Here are the ones I’ve spotted so far…

Vietnamese boy name debuts, 1975Vietnamese girl name debuts, 1975
Viet, 23
Hung, 16
Nam, 14
Huy, 13
Long, 11
Vu, 10
Tran, 9
Duc, 8
Dung, 8
Hoang, 8
My, 8
Nguyen, 8
An, 7
Luan, 7
Phong, 7
Binh, 6
Minh, 6
Quoc, 6
Anh, 5
Hai, 5
Linh, 5
Quang, 5
Tien, 5
Yun, 5
Anh, 10
Phuong, 9
Nguyen, 7
Thu, 7
Bich, 6
Linh, 6
Thao, 6
Trang, 6
Chau, 5
Hoa, 5
Lien, 5
Ngoc, 5
Viet, 5
Yen, 5

Viet was the top boy-name debut of 1975, and the next three boy names on the list (Hung, Nam, and Huy) ranked within the top 10.

Many other Vietnamese names — including Bao, Chinh, Dao, Giang, Huong, Khanh, Lam, Nguyet, Phuc, Quyen, Suong, Thanh, and Vuong — debuted throughout the rest of the ’70s and into the early ’80s.

One of the Vietnamese babies born at Fort Chaffee in 1975 was Dat Nguyen, who went on to become the first Vietnamese-American to play in the NFL. Even though he was born in America in 1975, his name, Dat, wasn’t popular enough to appear in the U.S. data (that is, it wasn’t wasn’t given to at least five baby boys within a single calendar year) until 1979.

Source: Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States
Image: Family with three children holding suitcases

Top girl-name debuts of all time in the U.S. baby name data (21-30)

lotus bud

And now for the third installment of the top baby name debuts for girls.

From 30 to 21:

Greydis & Sharday, 2-way tie for #30

  • Greydis debuted with 100 baby girls in 2009.
    Inspired by Greidys Gil, winner of the TV beauty pageant Nuestra Belleza Latina 2009.
  • Sharday debuted with 100 baby girls in 1985.
    Inspired by singer Sade [shah-DAY].

Torey, #29

Tennille, #28

Izamar, #27

  • Izamar debuted with 107 baby girls in 1990.
    Inspired by Isamar Medina, a character on the telenovela La Revancha.

Kelis, #26

  • Kelis debuted with 108 baby girls in 2000.
    Inspired by singer Kelis.

Cotina, #25

Jaleesa, #24

  • Jaleesa debuted with 116 baby girls in 1987.
    Inspired by Jaleesa Vinson, a character on the TV sitcom A Different World.

Turkessa, #23

  • Turkessa debuted with 119 baby girls in 1975.
    Inspired by Turkessa (b. 1975), baby of Supremes singer Mary Wilson.

Azure, #22

  • Azure debuted with 121 baby girls in 1975.
    Inspired by Azure Dee, a character on the TV detective series Kojak. (Or by the song “Azure Dee,” inspired by the character and sung by Telly Savalas for that particular episode.)

Sharde, #21

  • Sharde debuted with 124 baby girls in 1985.
    Inspired by singer Sade [shah-DAY].

The final two groups of ten are coming up tomorrow and Friday. Stay tuned!

More of the top 50 baby name debuts for girls: 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11, 10-1

Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri

[Latest update: 7/2021]