Girl · Spanish or Greek (unknown)
Theresa
Say it: tuh-REE-suh
Meaning
Uncertain. Proposed links to Greek therizein 'to harvest' or the island of Therasia are unproven.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Spread from medieval Spain through the fame of Teresa of Ávila and later of the Habsburg Maria Theresa.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1960s
In the United States
- 405,114 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1961, about 1 in 169 girls
- 153 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Teresa, Therese, Tressa
| Spanish | Teresa |
|---|---|
| French | Thérèse |
| German | Theresia |
| Czech | Tereza |
| Italian | Teresa |
| Polish | Teresa |
Famous bearers
- Saint Teresa of Ávila, Spanish mystic
- Maria Theresa, Habsburg empress and ruler
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Calendars of saints and name days
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.