Tresa
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "harvester" or "to harvest".
Name Census estimates that about 3,580 living Americans carry the first name Tresa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tresa today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tresa births was 1966 (206 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tresa. 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
3.6K
~ 1 in 95,741 Americans
Peak year
1966
206 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2017 SSA rank
#15,766
Tracked since 1886
Census
Tresa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,791 people with the first name Tresa, which placed it at #4,777 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
#4,777
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,791 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tresa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tresa is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.5%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Tresa 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 Tresa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 2,841
- Black or African American12.5% · 473
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 169
- Two or more races4.0% · 151
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 103
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 54
Popularity
Tresa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tresa from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,831 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
Tresa 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 Tresa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tresas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Tresa, while Colorado, Virginia, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 84 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tresa
The name Tresa is believed to have its origins in the Italian language. It is thought to be derived from the Latin word "thesaurus," meaning "treasure" or "hoard." This suggests that the name may have been given to children who were considered precious or valuable by their parents.
In ancient Roman times, the name Thesaurus was sometimes used as a personal name, and it is possible that Tresa evolved from this Latin root over time. The earliest recorded instances of the name Tresa date back to the Middle Ages in Italy, where it was likely used as a feminine form of the name Thesaurus.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the name Tresa was Tresa da Rimini, an Italian noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. She was known for her involvement in the political affairs of the time and her patronage of the arts.
Another notable figure named Tresa was Tresa de' Bardi, an Italian painter and nun who lived in the 15th century. She is best known for her religious artwork, including frescoes and altarpieces that adorned churches in Florence and the surrounding areas.
In the 16th century, Tresa Duarte was a Portuguese explorer and navigator who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his famous voyage around the world. She is believed to have been one of the first European women to circumnavigate the globe.
Moving into the 17th century, Tresa Castellini was an Italian composer and singer who was active in the courts of Northern Italy. She was renowned for her virtuosic vocal abilities and her contributions to the development of early Baroque music.
Finally, in the 19th century, Tresa Milburn was an English writer and activist who campaigned for women's rights and education. She published several works advocating for social reform and greater opportunities for women.
While the name Tresa has its roots in Italy and the Latin language, it has been used across various cultures and time periods, with notable individuals bearing the name in fields ranging from art and music to exploration and literature.
People
Tresa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tresa 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
Tresa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tresa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,580 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tresa 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 95,741 US residents.
Is Tresa a common name?
We classify Tresa as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,849 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tresa most popular?
The single biggest year for Tresa was 1966, when 206 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tresa is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tresa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,791 people with the name Tresa, or 1.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,777 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 Tresa 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 Tresa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tresa appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,792 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 Tresa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tresa is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.5%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Tresa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tresa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (2,841 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 Tresa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tresa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tresa 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 Tresa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tresa 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 Tresa 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 Tresa as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Tresa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.