Tab

Where Tab comes from

Tab hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1909
    Tab Smith born
    American saxophonist
  2. 1953
    First appearance
    #3,425 among boys, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1957
    Peak, #694
    120 babies named Tab — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1960
    Tab Baker born
    American actor
  5. 1961
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,097.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Tab Smith · American saxophonist, 1909–1971
  • Tab Baker · American actor, 1960–2010

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.