Tao

maleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Tao: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Tao: Recorded every year since 1999, its highest recorded position is #1,701, and it stood at #2,088 in 2024.

1registrar recorded it
27times a registrar ranked it
26years from first to last
#1701highest recorded position
5groupings it qualifies for

Region

Falling

among girls in England and Wales · 2000–2003

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
2000	#3912
2003	#4373

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among boys in England and Wales in 25 of the 26 years from 1999 to 2024.

Official data for England and Wales, 1999–2024 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1999
First recorded at #1850 among boys in England and Wales in 1999 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Boys
Highest recorded1999–2024
Highest recorded position: #1701 among boys in England and Wales, in 2023 (recorded 1999–2024).
England and Wales · Boys
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #2088 among boys in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Boys

Tao appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Boys, which has ranked it in 25 years beginning in 1999, and has registered 196 births with the name.

Tao across 2 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Tao's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Boys	#1850 (1999)	#1701 (2023)	#2088 (2024)	25 of 26	196 (1999–2024)	14 (2023)
England and Wales · Girls	#3912 (2000)	#3912 (2000)	#4373 (2003)	2 of 4	6 (2000–2003)	3 (2000)

Tao by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Tao in England and Wales · Boys, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	6	1 of 10	6
2000s	60	9 of 10	7
2010s	73	10 of 10	7
2020sbusiest	57	5 of 10	11

Across England and Wales · Boys, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 11 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Tao appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Recorded in official data for England and Wales from 1999 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #1701 in England and Wales in 2023.

Tao's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	male	#2088	11	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	male	#1701	14	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	male	#1781	13	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	male	#1984	11	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	male	#2404	8	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	male	#3013	6	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	male	#2445	8	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	male	#3449	5	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	male	#2335	9	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	male	#3373	5	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	male	#2459	8	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	male	#2216	9	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	male	#3416	5	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	male	#2892	6	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	male	#1801	12	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	male	#2544	7	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	male	#2276	8	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	male	#2435	7	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	male	#2282	7	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	male	#1991	8	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	male	#2304	6	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#4373	3	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	male	#2857	4	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	male	#2005	6	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	male	#1746	7	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#3912	3	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	male	#1850	6	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 1 registrar between 1999 and 2024, ranked in 26 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #1,701, first reached in 2023.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 14 births, registered in England and Wales in 2023.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

4decades with a ranked yearRecorded in 4 decades →
26 yearslongest unbroken run of ranked years20 to 29 unbroken years →
1unbroken stretch — never absent from the recordUnbroken since it first appeared →
#2,088position in 2024, its most recent recorded year
14births registered in its largest year, 2023Under 25 births →

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Tanwen · #2746, 16y
Tanya · #30, 66y
Taqwa · #1603, 20y
Tara · #20, 61y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 1 registrar, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Ramy · #1701, 24y
Gisele · #1702, 23y
Armand · #1703, 27y
Enfys · #1703, 23y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Hirah · #1702, 19y
Armand · #1703, 27y
Enfys · #1703, 23y
Harith · #1703, 26y

Tao and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Tao without appearing here.

Tao moved ahead of

Graham Compare
In 2023 they stood at #1701 and #1533 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2024 that had become #2088 and #5119.
Nils Compare
In 2015 they stood at #3373 and #2319 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2016 that had become #2335 and #4810.
Morten Compare
In 2013 they stood at #2892 and #2390 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2014 that had become #2459 and #4632.
Roger Compare
In 2022 they stood at #1781 and #1781 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2023 that had become #1701 and #3523.

Moved ahead of Tao

Arlo Compare
In 2001 they stood at #1746 and #1949 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2002 that had become #2005 and #848.
Theodor Compare
In 2006 they stood at #2282 and #2870 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2007 that had become #2435 and #1440.
Cillian Compare
In 2004 they stood at #2304 and #3009 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2005 that had become #1991 and #1190.
Rune Compare
In 2023 they stood at #1701 and #1799 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2024 that had become #2088 and #1460.

Moved the same way as Tao

Shannon Compare
Between 1999 and 2019 in England and Wales · Boys, Tao went from #1850 to #3013 and Shannon from #2097 to #4702.
Kim Compare
Between 1999 and 2015 in England and Wales · Boys, Tao went from #1850 to #3373 and Kim from #2943 to #4747.
Tayla Compare
Between 1999 and 2015 in England and Wales · Boys, Tao went from #1850 to #3373 and Tayla from #2943 to #4747.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Recorded in official data for England and Wales from 1999 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #1701 in England and Wales in 2023. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Tao

Tao at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Tao across 2 official records

Tao by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Tao appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Tao and the names beside it

Tao moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Tao

Moved the same way as Tao

Tao at a glance

Tao across 2 official records

Tao by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Tao appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Tao and the names beside it

Tao moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Tao

Moved the same way as Tao