Tatum
Meaning
an Old English surname, "Tata's homestead," from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Tata; jazz virtuoso Art Tatum gave it genius, Tatum O'Neal made it the name of the youngest competitive Oscar winner, at ten, and today it goes to girls and boys in nearly equal numbers
The story
Tatum is an English surname meaning Tata's homestead, from a personal name we no longer use and the old word for an enclosed settlement. Nothing about it suggests a girl, and yet our records show about 28,600 girls to 13,200 boys. The hinge is visible in the data: five babies in the 1960s, then 640 in the 1970s. Tatum O'Neal won an Academy Award in 1974, at ten, still the youngest person to win a competitive Oscar. Decade buckets cannot prove that one caused the other, and we will not say it did, but a surname with no prior history as a first name does not usually acquire 640 babies in the decade a famous child actor is on every front page. From there it kept climbing: 9,100 in the 2000s and more than 15,200 so far this decade.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Tatum peaked in the 2020s.
When you meet Tatum
Most people given the name Tatum in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Tatum deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Tatum truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Tatum fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Tatum fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Tatum to your family’s tree →