ESC Name Rank Total Searching... No names found Try searching for: Emma, Liam, Olivia, Noah... 1955 First Year 1976 Last Year 1971 Peak Year #3371 Peak Rank 162 Total Count 17 Years Active 🌍 ## Meaning & Origin of Tabby What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures. 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. Source: [Wikipedia ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby%5Fcat) (CC BY-SA 3.0). [Read more → ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby%5Fcat) ### Cultural Origins (via Behind the Name) * English 📜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 [![Wikipedia thumbnail for Tabby](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Cat_November_2010-1a.jpg/330px-Cat_November_2010-1a.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby%5Fcat) 📖 ## The Story of Tabby American parents first put Tabby on the record books as a baby girl name in 1955, with 5 registered babies. Its peak popularity came in 1971, when 19 Tabbys were born — ranking #3,371 that year. The 1960s were its strongest decade, accounting for roughly 47% of all recorded Tabbys. Its most recent appearance in the national data came in 1976 (6 births); the name has since faded from the published rankings. In total, more than 162 Tabbys have been born in the U.S. since records began in 1880, spanning the 1950s through the 2020s. ## Popularity Over Time ## Popularity by State ME WA MT ND MN WI MI NY VT NH MA OR ID SD IA IL IN OH PA NJ CT RI CA NV WY NE MO KY WV VA MD DE DC UT CO KS AR TN NC SC AK AZ NM OK LA MS AL GA HI TX FL Top 10 11-50 51-100 101-500 500+ No data 🔗 ## Variants & Related Forms of Tabby Foreign forms, alternate spellings, and nicknames that share roots with Tabby. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name. * [Tabatha](/tabatha) * [Tabitha](/tabitha) * [Tibby](/tibby) 🎶 ## Names that sound like Tabby Phonetically similar names — useful when Tabby is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name. * Taboo * [Toby](/toby) * Tubby * [Tobi](/tobi) * Tb * [Tobey](/tobey) * Tappy * Tabi * [Tibby](/tibby) * [Tobie](/tobie) * Tibi * [Tybee](/tybee) Source: [Datamuse ](https://www.datamuse.com/api/). Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated. ❓ ## Frequently Asked Questions about Tabby What does the name Tabby mean? 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. What is the origin of the name Tabby? Tabby has roots in the following cultural and linguistic traditions: English. How popular is Tabby in 2026? In 2026, Tabby ranks #8,157 among girls' names in the U.S., with 6 babies given the name that year. When was Tabby most popular? Tabby reached its peak popularity in 1971, ranking #3,371 that year with 19 babies given the name. In which U.S. states is Tabby most popular? Tabby has historically been most popular in Ohio. Rankings vary year to year, but these states show the strongest concentration of births named Tabby. Is Tabby a unisex name? In U.S. Social Security records, Tabby is primarily a girl's name. We don't have meaningful data for it as a boy's name. What names go well with Tabby? Names that share a similar style or popularity range with Tabby include Didi, Marvette, Trinita. These pairings are based on rank proximity and naming era in U.S. data. What are nicknames or variants of Tabby? Common variants and related forms of Tabby include Tabatha, Tabitha, Tibby. These cover foreign-language equivalents, alternate spellings, and short forms. ## Similar Names [👧DidiPeak #3371](/didi)[👧MarvettePeak #3371](/marvette)[👧TrinitaPeak #3371](/trinita)[👧ChantelePeak #3371](/chantele)[👧TaPeak #3371](/ta)[👧AbigaellePeak #3371](/abigaelle)[👧ToneyPeak #3372](/toney)[👧BarbeePeak #3372](/barbee) ## About the name Tabby Tabby is a girl baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1955 and has accumulated 162 births in the dataset. Tabby's peak popularity came in 1971 when it ranked #3,371\. Use the chart and map above to compare Tabby's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices. ### Continue exploring * [ Top names of 1971 → ](/year/1971) * [ Names of the 1970s → ](/decade/1970s) * [ Names starting with "T" → ](/letter/t) * [ Browse all girl names → ](/names/girls) * [ Top names of 2026 → ](/year/2026) Data sources * Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. [Social Security Administration ](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/). 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 ](https://www.behindthename.com/) (used under their public API terms). * Meaning prose and editorial summary — [Wikipedia ](https://en.wikipedia.org/) article extracts, licensed under [CC BY-SA 3.0 ](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). * Predicted nationality distribution — [Nationalize.io ](https://nationalize.io/). * Phonetically similar names — [Datamuse ](https://www.datamuse.com/api/). 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.