Tam

Where Tam comes from

The dictionaries list Tam as a given name — a diminutive of the female given name Tamara — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

Along the way
  1. 1924
    First appearance
    #4,347 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1982
    Peak, #1,395
    46 babies named Tam — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1994
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #3,326.
  4. 2025
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the female given name Tamara.
  • A diminutive of the female given name Tamsin.
Namesakes

We look up famous namesakes for names that have made the top 1,000. Tam hasn't yet.

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.