Tea
Feminine
Every language on earth calls it either tea or cha, and which one depends on how the leaf arrived. Overland from northern China it is cha, in Persian, Turkish, Russian, Arabic and Hindi. By sea from the southern ports it is te, in Dutch, English, French and Spanish.
How old is the name Tea?
Tea first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Tea alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 2,500 people named Tea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tea most popular?
Tea peaked in 1998, reaching #747 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 8,710 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dorotea to Tea
The story of Tea
The plant is one species and the word for it split on a trade route. In most of China the character is read cha, and the overland routes through Central Asia carried that form into Persian chay, Turkish cay, Russian chai, Arabic shai, Hindi chai and Swahili chai. In the Min Nan dialect spoken in Fujian and around the port of Amoy it is read te, and the Dutch East India Company, buying there in the seventeenth century, carried that form into Dutch thee, English tea, French the, German Tee, Spanish te and Italian te. Portugal is the exception in Western Europe, using cha, because the Portuguese traded through Macao, where the pronunciation is Cantonese. The map of the two words is therefore a map of who bought tea from whom, and it has not changed in three hundred years.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Tea is a Croatian and Slovenian name, a short form of Dorotea, Matea or Andrea, and a name in its own right. It coincides exactly with the English word for the drink, which comes through Dutch from Min Nan Chinese te. The two are unrelated. The American peak is 1998.
How the name formed
- Dorotea
- Tea
Related forms: Tea · Tea · Teya
Pronouncing Tea
TAY-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first, in Croatian and Italian. English speakers see the word for the drink and say TEE. Both are heard in the United States.
Nicknames for Tea
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 1998290 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #747reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −33.3%10 in 2025, from 15
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Tea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tea in Croatian — same name
- Tea in Italian — same name
- Teya in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Teas among us
people named Tea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Tea
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Meryl test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tea's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Meryl climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Meryl's path sketches the road Tea is walking now.
Tea 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Tea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tea in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters and two syllables, as compact as a name gets.
- Several formal names are available behind it.
- It is a standard name across the Adriatic.
- It is identical to a very common English noun.
- English and Croatian say it completely differently.
- It reads as one syllable to most Americans.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Tea to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Tea? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Tea
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Teas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Tea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tea in 2025?
- Tea ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tea?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Tea — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tea with classmates?
- Tea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tea? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tea and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle