Head to head · Girls' names
Catherine vs Tessa
#313 vs #311 in 2025
Tessa is a whisker ahead (#311 vs #313 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Tessa is holding its place on the charts, Catherine is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Catherine leads 3 measures of 6; Tessa leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Catherine #41, Tessa — — Catherine higher
- 1890s: Catherine #41, Tessa #1310 — Catherine higher
- 1900s: Catherine #29, Tessa #1905 — Catherine higher
- 1910s: Catherine #20, Tessa #3558 — Catherine higher
- 1920s: Catherine #28, Tessa #4376 — Catherine higher
- 1930s: Catherine #43, Tessa #4049 — Catherine higher
- 1940s: Catherine #47, Tessa #1919 — Catherine higher
- 1950s: Catherine #34, Tessa #2951 — Catherine higher
- 1960s: Catherine #53, Tessa #1364 — Catherine higher
- 1970s: Catherine #70, Tessa #594 — Catherine higher
- 1980s: Catherine #70, Tessa #377 — Catherine higher
- 1990s: Catherine #86, Tessa #240 — Catherine higher
- 2000s: Catherine #117, Tessa #254 — Catherine higher
- 2010s: Catherine #188, Tessa #234 — Catherine higher
- 2020s: Catherine #314, Tessa #306 — Tessa higher
Catherine stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Tessa took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Catherine | Tessa |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #41 | — |
| 1890s | #41 | #1310 |
| 1900s | #29 | #1905 |
| 1910s | #20 | #3558 |
| 1920s | #28 | #4376 |
| 1930s | #43 | #4049 |
| 1940s | #47 | #1919 |
| 1950s | #34 | #2951 |
| 1960s | #53 | #1364 |
| 1970s | #70 | #594 |
| 1980s | #70 | #377 |
| 1990s | #86 | #240 |
| 2000s | #117 | #254 |
| 2010s | #188 | #234 |
| 2020s | #314 | #306 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Catherine
Not established
The name has no recoverable original meaning. The purity association came later, by resemblance rather than descent, and the earliest forms do not support it.
Aikaterine → Katharina → Catherine
How it traveled
Six English queens carried the name and three of them were married to the same man. He worked through them in the space of about a decade — one divorced after twenty-four years, one beheaded at nineteen or twenty, one who survived him and remarried within months — and the name accordingly runs through the most turbulent stretch of English royal history at a rate no other manages.
Tessa
Unsettled — through Teresa, read variously as 'summer', 'harvester', or a name from the Greek island Therasia
Tessa's meaning is Teresa's meaning, and Teresa's root has never been agreed on. The serious candidates are Greek theros, 'summer'; therizein, 'to harvest'; and the island name Therasia, borne by a fourth-century Roman woman, Therasia. Each has scholarly support and none has won. That leaves Tessa in good company — some of the oldest European names are exactly this open.
Therasia → Teresa → Theresa → Tess → Tessa
How it traveled
The line runs back through Teresa, a name that spread from the Iberian peninsula across Catholic Europe and became one of the great international names of the Church. English speakers clipped it to Tess, then extended that clip back out to Tessa, and by the nineteenth century Tessa was being recorded as a name given at birth rather than a household shortening.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Catherine
KATH-ur-in
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The c is hard, as it is in every form of the name, so the two spellings sound identical.
- Cathy — The commonest short form of the c-spelling and completely established.
- Cate — The shortest form with the c kept; crisp and rather current.
- Trina — Taken from the back of the continental forms; a standing name of its own.
Tessa
TESS-uh
Stress on the first syllable. One pronunciation everywhere in English, and near-identical in Dutch and German.
- Tess — The most common short form, and a standard given name on its own in English-speaking countries.
- Tessie — Informal and affectionate; long-established, and still strongly associated with older generations.
- Tee — Casual, spoken rather than written; used within families and among friends.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Catherine if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsCatherine is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itCatherine runs 3 syllables, Tessa 2
- a long American recordCatherine was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Tessa
Choose Tessa if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesTessa is 2 syllables to Catherine's 3
- a newer arrivalTessa entered the US charts in 1891
- a name that feels very nowTessa is holding its place on the charts
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Catherine
Strengths
- It has been in continuous use for well over a thousand years.
- The short forms are numerous and span several registers and languages.
- It is recognized across Europe with minimal change of spelling.
To consider
- The k spelling is equally standard and the choice is queried for life.
- No meaning can be given honestly, whatever other pages assert.
- Its peak was early enough to give the name some period weight.
Tessa
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds, with no competing variant to correct — people write it correctly on the first try.
- Comes with a ready-made short form, Tess, that is itself a full name in English.
- In use in American records since the nineteenth century, with no long gap and no sudden fashion spike.
To consider
- It is already brief, so nickname options are narrow: Tess, Tessie, and not much else. If you like a name with several distinct routes, this one offers a short list.
- Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles is widely taught in schools, and it is a tragic novel. The association is literary rather than unpleasant, but some readers will make it.
- Because it started as a pet form, people occasionally assume it is short for Theresa and ask for the longer version. A one-word answer settles it.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Catherine
12%chance Catherine feels dated by 2040
Catherine has held the top-100 across 12 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Tessa
40%chance Tessa feels dated by 2040
Tessa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Catherine and Tessa in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Catherine and Tessa?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Catherine and Tessa — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Catherine or Tessa — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Catherine or Tessa?
- Tessa, in 2025: Tessa ranked #311 with 978 babies; Catherine ranked #313 with 972 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Catherine or Tessa?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Catherine moved down 46 places; Tessa moved down 31 places.
- Which is the older name, Catherine or Tessa?
- Catherine was already in use when US records began in 1880; Tessa entered the US charts in 1891. On the American record, Catherine is the older name.
- How many people are named Catherine and Tessa?
- About 390,000 people named Catherine are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 55,000 people named Tessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Catherines or Tessas in the classroom?
- Catherine will almost certainly be the only one in school. Tessa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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