Girl · #9,068 in 2026

Tabbie

Name: Popularity of the name Tabbie in U.S. births, 1880–2026
Creator: U.S. Social Security Administration
License: https://www.ssa.gov/foia/
Keywords: Tabbie, baby name, popularity, U.S., SSA, rankings

A tabby cat, or simply tabby, describes any domestic cat with a coat pattern distinguished by an M-shaped marking on its forehead, stripes by its eyes, cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail. Tabby cats display characteristic striped, dotted, lined, flecked, banded, or swirled patterns on the body: neck, shoulders, sides, flanks, chest.

Current Rank

#9,068

Peak Rank

#6,042 (1967)

Total Babies

5-Yr Trend

Stable

1958

First Year

1975

Last Year

1967

Peak Year

#6042

Peak Rank

Total Count

Years Active

Meaning & Origin of Tabbie

What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0). Read more →

Etymology

The English term tabby originally referred to "striped silk taffeta ", from the French word tabis , meaning "a rich watered silk ". This can be further traced to the Middle French atabis (14th century), which stemmed from the Arabic term عتابية / ʿattābiyya . This word is a reference to the Attabiya district of Baghdad , noted for its striped cloth and silk; itself named after the Umayyad governor of Mecca Attab ibn Asid . Such silk cloth became popular in the Muslim world and spread to England, where the word "tabby" became commonly used in the 17th and 18th centuries. Use of the term tabby c

Origin & history

Since the tabby pattern is a common wild type, it might be assumed that medieval cats were tabbies. However, the natural philosopher John Aubrey believed this to be untrue. Sometime after the mid-17th century, he noted that William Laud , the Archbishop of Canterbury was " a great lover of Cats " and " was presented with some Cyprus -cats, i.e. our Tabby-Cats ". He then claimed that " I doe well remember that the common English Catt, was white with some blueish piednesse [i.e. with grey parts]. The race or breed of them is now almost lost. " Despite this, most drawings and paintings of cats in

The Story of Tabbie

The earliest SSA record of Tabbie as a baby girl name dates back to 1958, when 5 babies received it. 1967 was its biggest year on record, with 6 newborns named Tabbie — #6,042 in the national rankings. About 42% of every Tabbie on record arrived during the 1960s, its defining decade. Tabbie last appeared in the published SSA data in 1975, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 26 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1950s to the 2020s.

Popularity Over Time

Popularity by State

Top 10

11-50

51-100

101-500

500+

No data

Names that sound like Tabbie

Phonetically similar names — useful when Tabbie is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.

Tabby
Taboo
Toby
Tubby
Tobi
Tb
Tobey
Tappy
Tabi
Tibby
Tobie
Tibi

Source: Datamuse . Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated.

Frequently Asked Questions about Tabbie

What does the name Tabbie mean?

How popular is Tabbie in 2026?

In 2026, Tabbie ranks #9,068 among girls' names in the U.S., with 5 babies given the name that year.

When was Tabbie most popular?

Tabbie reached its peak popularity in 1967, ranking #6,042 that year with 6 babies given the name.

Is Tabbie a unisex name?

In U.S. Social Security records, Tabbie is primarily a girl's name. We don't have meaningful data for it as a boy's name.

What names go well with Tabbie?

Names that share a similar style or popularity range with Tabbie include Sybella, Leath, Earlina. These pairings are based on rank proximity and naming era in U.S. data.

About the name Tabbie

Tabbie is a girl baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1958 and has accumulated 26 births in the dataset. Tabbie's peak popularity came in 1967 when it ranked #6,042. Use the chart and map above to compare Tabbie's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.

Continue exploring

Data sources

Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. Social Security Administration . Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships.
Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — Behind the Name (used under their public API terms).
Meaning prose and editorial summary — Wikipedia article extracts, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .
Predicted nationality distribution — Nationalize.io .
Phonetically similar names — Datamuse .

Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.