Tereasa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "harvester" or "reaper".
Name Census estimates that about 1,149 living Americans carry the first name Tereasa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tereasa today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tereasa births was 1964 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tereasa. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 298,307 Americans
Peak year
1964
80 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2000 SSA rank
#14,874
Tracked since 1946
Census
Tereasa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,208 people with the first name Tereasa, which placed it at #10,849 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,849
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,208 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tereasa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tereasa is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Tereasa described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Tereasa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.9% · 917
- Black or African American12.2% · 147
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 79
- Two or more races3.8% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 6
Popularity
Tereasa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tereasa from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 539 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tereasa by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Tereasa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tereasas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Ohio, California, Indiana recorded the most babies named Tereasa, while Washington, Oklahoma, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tereasa
The name Tereasa is derived from the Greek name Theresia, which itself originated from the Greek island of Therasia. The name was likely brought to Europe during the late Roman period, around the 4th century AD.
Therasia was a small island in the Cyclades archipelago of Greece, located just northwest of the larger island of Santorini. The name Therasia comes from the Greek word "therasia," meaning "to harvest." It's believed the island was named for its fertile soil and plentiful harvests.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tereasa appears in the writings of the 5th century theologian and philosopher Boethius. In his work "The Consolation of Philosophy," he refers to a woman named Tereasa who was a follower of Christian teachings.
In the 12th century, a Benedictine nun named Tereasa of Ávila was born in Spain. She later became known as Saint Teresa of Ávila and is one of the most prominent figures in the Catholic Church's history. Her writings and reforms within the Carmelite Order had a profound impact on the contemplative life of nuns.
Another famous bearer of the name was Tereasa di Benedetto, an Italian painter from the 16th century. She was a pioneer in the Baroque style of painting and her works were celebrated across Europe during her lifetime, from 1498 to 1570.
During the 17th century, Tereasa Carreño was a renowned Venezuelan composer, singer, and pianist. She was born in 1853 and achieved great acclaim for her operatic performances and virtuosic piano skills, touring extensively throughout Europe and the Americas until her death in 1917.
In more recent history, Tereasa Teng was a popular Taiwanese singer-songwriter active in the 1970s and 1980s. Her unique blend of folk and pop music styles made her a cultural icon, and she released over 30 albums before her untimely death in a tragic accident in 1995 at the age of 42.
People
Tereasa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tereasa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tereasa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tereasa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,149 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tereasa going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 298,307 US residents.
Is Tereasa a common name?
We classify Tereasa as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,415 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tereasa most popular?
The single biggest year for Tereasa was 1964, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tereasa is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tereasa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,208 people with the name Tereasa, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,849 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Tereasa in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Tereasa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tereasa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,203 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Tereasa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tereasa is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Tereasa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tereasa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.9% (917 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Tereasa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tereasa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tereasa in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Tereasa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tereasa in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Tereasa can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Tereasa as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Tereasa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.