Meaning & origin
A reliable meaning for Teressa isn’t established in our sources yet. Rather than guess, we show what is recorded: how the name is used, how often, and the names it’s connected to.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Teressa through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6,480
- 0 boys · 6,480 girls
- Most popular year
- 1960
- 266 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #17,036 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 17,036 among girls’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for girls was 266 in 1960. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 5,440 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.
Teressa’s family of names
In Finnish usage, Teressa has a conventional equivalent in the German form Theresa.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Teressa
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Teressa, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Teresa
“a harvester”
>99% girls
Tamera
“date palm”
>99% girls
Terri
“a harvester” · “learned”
>99% girls
Teddie
“a wealthy protector” · “God”
16% boys · 84% girls
Risa
“one who laughs often”
>99% girls
Luanna
“one who is content and enjoys life”
>99% girls
Therese
“a harvester”
>99% girls
Tuesday
“born on Tuesday” · “born on a Tuesday”
>99% girls