Tena vs Tenille

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Tena Tenille

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 143 years in which either name was published, Tena for 122 years and Tenille for 21 years. The lead changed hands 18 times.

• 1880–1975 Tena ahead
• 1976–1999 Tenille ahead, apart from 3 short spells
• 2006–2023 Tena ahead

13 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Tenas alive today are over 62; half the Tenilles are over 44. That is 18 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Tena Arkansas (3.6×), Tennessee (3.0×), Kentucky (2.8×)
• Tenille Illinois (4.5×), Ohio (2.1×), New York (1.9×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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• Tena vs Tenley
• Tena vs Tenisha
• Tena vs Tenzin
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• Tena vs Tennille
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• Tenille vs Tenley
• Tenille vs Tenisha