Given name
Tekla
“glory of God”
Tekla is used as a given name. One Greek interpretation is “glory of God.”
Original Ancient GreekΘεοκλεία
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Greek interpretation is “glory of God.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
In Scandinavian use, Tekla is used as a form of Thecla.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1889. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Tekla through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 461
- 0 boys · 461 girls
- Most popular year
- 1916
- 16 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 7 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 16 in 1916. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 416 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Tekla’s family of names
In Polish usage, Tekla has a diminutive in Tekleczka. Tekla shares a linguistic root with Thecla. Tekla has a related form in Tecla.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Tekla has relatives in 8 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Tekla comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 10
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Theklavariant · Danish
- Thecklavariant
- Theclavariant · English, Latin
- Teclavariant
- Tecklavariant
- Thecdlavariant
- Theclahvariant
- Teklivariant
Show 2 moreShow fewer
Across languages 6
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 4
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Tekla
- Tekla Bądarzewska-BaranowskaPolish composer1823–1861
- Tekla JuniewiczPolish supercentenarian (1906–2022)
- Tekla HultinFinnish politician and journalist1864–1943
- Tekla TrapszoPolish actress (1873–1944)1870–1944
- Thecla ÅhlanderSwedish stage and film actress1855–1925
- Tekla Teresa ŁubieńskaPolish playwright, poet and translator (1767-1810)
- Tekla Griebel-WandallDanish composer (1866-1940)
- Tekla Justyna Chopinmother of Frédéric Chopin1782–1861
- Thecla of KitzingenBenedictine abbess and saint800–790
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Tekla, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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“one who is blessed with happiness”
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