Tessie
A diminutive form of the name Theresa, derived from Greek meaning "harvester".
Name Census estimates that about 2,547 living Americans carry the first name Tessie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tessie today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tessie births was 1917 (393 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tessie. 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 Tessie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 134,572 Americans
Peak year
1917
393 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1922 SSA rank
#4,886
Tracked since 1880
Census
Tessie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,295 people with the first name Tessie, which placed it at #5,269 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
#5,269
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,295 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tessie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tessie is White at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Tessie 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 Tessie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.2% · 1,488
- Asian and Pacific Islander26.0% · 857
- Black or African American15.6% · 514
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 256
- Two or more races3.7% · 121
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 59
Gender
Gender distribution for Tessie
Out of the 9,983 babies given the name Tessie since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tessie as a male name
- Ranked #4,886 in 1922
- 5 male births in 1922
- Peak: 1918 (5 births)
Tessie as a female name
- Ranked #9,468 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1917 (393 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tessie appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,292 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tessie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tessie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 2,588 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tessie 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 Tessie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tessies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Tessie, while Utah, Michigan, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 182 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tessie
The name Tessie is a diminutive form of the name Theresa, which has its origins in the Greek island of Thasos. It is derived from the Greek word "therizo," which means "to harvest." The name Theresa gained popularity in the 4th century AD when a Spanish nun named Theresa of Avila lived and became a prominent figure in the Roman Catholic Church.
Tessie is a name that has been used across various cultures and regions throughout history. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the 16th century play "The Spanish Tragedy" by Thomas Kyd, where a character named Tessie appears.
In literature, Tessie is also the name of a character in John Steinbeck's novella "The Pearl," published in 1947. The character Tessie is a young girl who represents innocence and purity in the story.
The name Tessie has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the most famous was Tessie O'Shea, an English actress and singer who lived from 1913 to 1995. She was known for her performances in West End musicals and on British television.
Another notable Tessie was Tessie Tura, a Belgian singer and actress born in 1920. She was a popular performer in her home country and appeared in several films during the 1940s and 1950s.
In the United States, Tessie Mobley was a famous blues singer and guitarist who lived from 1924 to 1995. She was known for her powerful voice and contributions to the Chicago blues scene.
Tessie Wall was a British cyclist who competed in the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics. She won a silver medal in the road race event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Tessie Santiago was a Puerto Rican artist and sculptor who lived from 1935 to 2011. She was known for her abstract and modernist works, and her art is featured in museums and galleries around the world.
While the name Tessie may have originated from a specific region and culture, it has transcended boundaries and been embraced by various communities, making it a truly global name with a rich and diverse history.
People
Tessie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tessie 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
Tessie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tessie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,547 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tessie 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 134,572 US residents.
Is Tessie a common name?
We classify Tessie as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,983 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tessie most popular?
The single biggest year for Tessie was 1917, when 393 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tessie is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tessie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,295 people with the name Tessie, or 1.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,269 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 Tessie 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 Tessie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tessie appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,292 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Tessie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tessie is White at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.0%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Tessie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tessie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.2% (1,488 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 Tessie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tessie a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Tessie 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 Tessie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tessie 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 Tessie 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 are named Tessie?
Find out how many Americans are named Tessie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.