Meaning & Origin
A female given name popular in the 1960s and the 1970s.
Tammy is a girl's and boy's baby name of Hebrew origin, a diminutive of Tamara, from the Hebrew tamar meaning "date palm" — a symbol of grace and beauty in the ancient Near East. Tammy developed as a standalone name in the American South and Midwest during the 1950s.
The 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor, starring Debbie Reynolds, sent the name rocketing up the U.S. charts, where it stayed in the top 20 through the early 1970s. Tammy Wynette's country music career kept it in the spotlight throughout that decade — a deeply American name tied to a very specific cultural moment.