Theresa
Feminine
Theresa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 404,613 girls against 1,218 boys since 1880. See Theresa as a boy name
The most famous Teresa of the sixteenth century wrote that she left the ground during prayer and did not want to. She asked the other nuns to hold her down, described the experience as frightening rather than glorious, and put the whole thing in a book she was made to write by her confessors.
How old is the name Theresa?
Theresa was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Theresa alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 273,000 people named Theresa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Theresa most popular?
Theresa peaked in 1956, reaching #32 nationally. Today it ranks #1548, 1,516 places below that high. See the whole 1956 chart.
Where it comes from
From Teresa to Theresa
The story of Theresa
Four hundred years later a different Teresa left a different kind of record. The Albanian nun who worked in Calcutta wrote letters to her confessors over half a century describing an almost total absence of any sense of God, a darkness she said she could not explain and did not want made public; she asked repeatedly that the letters be destroyed. They were not. They were published after her death by the priest handling her cause, on the argument that they showed something more valuable than certainty would have, and the book caused an argument that has not stopped. Two women with one name, four centuries apart, left first-hand accounts of the interior life, and they could not be less alike.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name's origin has never been established. It appears first in Spain and Portugal, and proposals connect it to a Greek word for summer, to an island, or to something pre-Roman in the Iberian peninsula; none has carried the field. It is unusual for a name this widespread to have no agreed meaning at all, and that should be said plainly.
How the name formed
- Teresa
- Theresa
Related forms: Teresa · Teresa · Therese · Theresia · Teresa
Pronouncing Theresa
tuh-REE-suh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The h in this spelling is silent and was added in Latin and English to make the name look Greek; Spanish, Italian and Polish all write it without one.
Nicknames for Theresa
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 196011,847 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #32reached in 1956
- Change vs 2022
- −8.1%136 in 2025, from 148
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.
Theresa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Teresa in Spanish — same name
- Teresa in Italian — same name
- Therese in French — same name
- Theresia in German — same name
- Teresa in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Theresas among us
people named Theresa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,818 born in 2025 was named Theresa
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 Pauline test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Theresa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pauline climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pauline's path sketches the road Theresa is walking now.
Theresa has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Theresa is headed
Theresa should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Theresa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Theresa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognizable in Spanish, Italian, French, German and Polish with only small changes.
- An unusually good set of short forms, several of which became independent names.
- It has been in continuous use across Europe for eight hundred years.
- Teresa without the h is the standard spelling almost everywhere except English.
- The record carries it for boys in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- There is no meaning to give a child, which surprises people who expect one from a name this old.
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Theresa
Feminine · #1548 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Theresas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 273,000 people named Theresa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Theresa in 2025?
- Theresa ranks #1548 among US girl names in 2025, with 136 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Theresa?
- About 1 in every 11,818 US girls born in 2025 was named Theresa — 136 in all.
- Will my child share the name Theresa with classmates?
- Theresa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Theresa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maelani#1548 · Keila#1548 · Addilynn#1548 · Raine#1548 · Skylynn#1548 · Marcela#1548 · Mavie#1548 · Avalyn#1548
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Theresa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Theresa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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