Terrie
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the land cultivator's cottage".
Name Census estimates that about 15,300 living Americans carry the first name Terrie. It is a predominantly female name (98.3% of registrations). The average person named Terrie today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Terrie births was 1961 (1,133 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Terrie. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Terrie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Terrie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 338 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,402 Americans
Peak year
1961
1,133 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1998 SSA rank
#9,524
Tracked since 1918
Census
Terrie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,789 people with the first name Terrie, which placed it at #1,845 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
#1,845
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
15,789 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Terrie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrie is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Terrie 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 Terrie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.4% · 12,375
- Black or African American13.4% · 2,116
- Two or more races3.4% · 540
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 411
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 200
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 147
Gender
Gender distribution for Terrie
Terrie leans heavily female at 98.3% of total registrations, but 338 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Terrie as a male name
- Ranked #9,524 in 1998
- 6 male births in 1998
- Peak: 1961 (19 births)
Terrie as a female name
- Ranked #17,516 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1961 (1,114 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Terrie leans strongly female. 15,522 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 265 male bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Terrie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Terrie from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 7,582 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
Terrie 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 Terrie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Terries live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Terrie, while Rhode Island, Wyoming, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 364 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Terrie
The name Terrie is a diminutive form of the French name Thérèse, which is derived from the Greek name Theresia. Theresia was a feminine form of the Greek name Theresios, meaning "harvester" or "reaper." The name Theresia gained popularity in medieval Europe due to its association with Saint Teresa of Avila, a prominent Spanish mystic and reformer of the Carmelite order in the 16th century.
The name Terrie first emerged as an English variant of Thérèse during the Middle Ages. It was particularly prevalent in regions of England and Scotland with strong French cultural influences, such as the areas surrounding the Norman conquest in the 11th century. The spelling "Terrie" reflected the English pronunciation of the French name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Terrie can be found in the English county of Essex in the 13th century. A woman named Terrie de Colchester is mentioned in historical records from the year 1274. This suggests that the name had already gained some traction in parts of England by that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Terrie. For example, Terrie Williams (1945-1998) was an American singer and actress who performed on Broadway and in films. Terrie E. Moffitt (born 1955) is a renowned American-British psychologist known for her research on antisocial behavior and aging.
In the literary world, Terrie Wolfe (born 1947) is an American author known for her children's books and young adult fiction. Additionally, Terrie Farley Moran (born 1960) is an American mystery writer and author of the Read 'Em and Eat cozy mystery series.
Another notable figure is Terrie Aamodt (born 1960), a former professional tennis player from the United States who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 15 in the world in singles.
These examples illustrate the diverse fields in which individuals named Terrie have made significant contributions throughout history, from the arts and entertainment to academia and sports.
People
Terrie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Terrie 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
Terrie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Terrie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,300 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Terrie 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 22,402 US residents.
Is Terrie a common name?
We classify Terrie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,066 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Terrie most popular?
The single biggest year for Terrie was 1961, when 1,133 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Terrie is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Terrie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,789 people with the name Terrie, or 5.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,845 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 Terrie 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 Terrie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Terrie leans strongly female. 15,522 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 265 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Terrie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrie is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Terrie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Terrie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.4% (12,375 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 Terrie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Terrie a female name?
Yes, 98.3% of people registered as Terrie 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 Terrie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Terrie 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 Terrie 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 Terrie as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Terrie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.