Tesla
Feminine · “adze”
Tesla is given to both — 2,589 girls and 98 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Tesla is a Serbian surname, a unit of magnetic field strength, and — since well after both of those — a car. The name entered American birth records in the nineteen-eighties, which is early enough to rule the car out entirely and late enough to make the physicist the obvious source.
How old is the name Tesla?
Tesla first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Tesla alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 2,600 people named Tesla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tesla most popular?
Tesla peaked in 1992, reaching #1202 nationally. See the whole 1992 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From tesla to Tesla
The story of Tesla
Nikola Tesla was born in what is now Croatia to a Serbian family, worked out how to make alternating current practical, and gave his name to the unit that measures magnetic flux density — an honor reserved for a very short list of physicists. He also died alone in a New York hotel, largely broke, having given away or lost most of the patents. The name reached American birth certificates in the nineteen-eighties, given to girls and boys alike, and the record shows it well before the car company existed, which is worth knowing because everyone now assumes otherwise.
Meaningscholars disagree
adze, a carpenter's tool
The Serbian word tesla names a kind of axe used for shaping wood, and the family name is generally read from it. The derivation is plausible and not certain, as is normal for Slavic occupational surnames.
How the name formed
- tesla
- Tesla
Related forms: Tesla
Pronouncing Tesla
TESS-luh
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Serbian says it the same way, which is unusual for a Slavic name in English use.
Nicknames for Tesla
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
- 1985
- Most girls named
- 2015167 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1202reached in 1992
- Change vs 2022
- −31.6%13 in 2023, from 19
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.
Tesla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tesla in Serbian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Indiana.
Teslas among us
people named Tesla are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Tesla sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Every sound in it is easy in English and the spelling follows the sound.
- The man behind it is genuinely significant and easy to tell a child about.
- Tess is a ready short form and a standing name in its own right.
- A car company now owns the name in most people's minds, and that is not going away.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well as girls in the United States.
- It is a surname, and surname names carry an assumption of family connection that may not be there.
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What they receive
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Tesla
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Teslas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Tesla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tesla in 2025?
- Tesla is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tesla with classmates?
- Tesla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tesla? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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