Tesia
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "to harvest" or "reaper".
Name Census estimates that about 1,035 living Americans carry the first name Tesia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tesia today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tesia births was 1991 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tesia. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 331,164 Americans
Peak year
1991
83 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2020 SSA rank
#14,932
Tracked since 1960
Census
Tesia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 931 people with the first name Tesia, which placed it at #13,100 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
#13,100
National first-name rank
People counted
931
931 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tesia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tesia is White at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Tesia 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 Tesia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.3% · 431
- Black or African American26.9% · 250
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 95
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.3% · 77
- Two or more races5.9% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 23
Popularity
Tesia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tesia from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 523 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tesia 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 Tesia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tesias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Tesia, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tesia
The name Tesia has its roots in ancient Greek culture, dating back to the 5th century BC. It is believed to be derived from the Greek word "tesia," meaning "to sow" or "to plant," reflecting its connection to agriculture and the natural world.
In ancient Greek mythology, Tesia was a minor goddess associated with the harvest and the fertility of the land. Her name was invoked in rituals and celebrations honoring the earth's bounty and the cyclical nature of the seasons.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tesia can be found in a fragmentary text from the Greek playwright Aristophanes, dated around 425 BC. In this work, a character named Tesia is mentioned, though little is known about her role or significance.
Throughout the centuries, the name Tesia has appeared sporadically in various historical records and literary works. One notable bearer of the name was Tesia of Argos, a renowned poet and philosopher who lived in the 3rd century BC. Her works, though largely lost to time, were said to explore themes of nature, beauty, and the human condition.
In the Middle Ages, the name Tesia gained popularity among certain religious orders and monastic communities. Saint Tesia of Ravenna, a 6th-century abbess, was known for her piety and her dedication to charitable works. Her life and teachings were recorded in a hagiography, ensuring that her name and legacy endured.
During the Renaissance period, the name Tesia experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly among the artistic and intellectual circles of Italy. Tesia Vecellio, a 16th-century Venetian painter and the daughter of the renowned artist Titian, was celebrated for her exceptional talent and her contributions to the Venetian school of painting.
Another notable figure bearing the name Tesia was Tesia de' Bardi, a 14th-century Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts. Her patronage and support of artists and writers played a significant role in the flourishing of the arts during the early Renaissance.
In more recent times, the name Tesia has remained relatively uncommon, though it has been carried by a few noteworthy individuals. Tesia Samara, a 20th-century American actress and singer, gained recognition for her performances on stage and screen, while Tesia Blackburn, a contemporary British author, has garnered critical acclaim for her novels exploring themes of identity and cultural diversity.
People
Tesia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tesia 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
Tesia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tesia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,035 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tesia 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 331,164 US residents.
Is Tesia a common name?
We classify Tesia as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,081 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tesia most popular?
The single biggest year for Tesia was 1991, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tesia is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tesia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 931 people with the name Tesia, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,100 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 Tesia 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 Tesia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tesia appears almost entirely female. Of the 928 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Tesia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tesia is White at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Tesia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tesia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (431 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 Tesia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tesia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tesia 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 Tesia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tesia 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 Tesia 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 common is the name Tesia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.