Marytheresa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "beloved and dedicated to God".
Name Census estimates that about 30 living Americans carry the first name Marytheresa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marytheresa today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marytheresa births was 1959 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marytheresa. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Marytheresa is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Marytheresas were born before 1971.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Marytheresa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
30
~ 1 in 11,425,145 Americans
Peak year
1959
7 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1981 SSA rank
#11,466
Tracked since 1941
Census
Marytheresa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 369 people with the first name Marytheresa, which placed it at #25,627 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
#25,627
National first-name rank
People counted
369
369 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marytheresa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marytheresa is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Black (2.7%). 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 Marytheresa 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 Marytheresa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 321
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 23
- Black or African American2.7% · 10
- Two or more races2.2% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 7
Popularity
Marytheresa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marytheresa from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 18 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marytheresa 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 Marytheresa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marytheresas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marytheresa
Marytheresa is a compound given name that combines the names Mary and Theresa. The name Mary has its origins in the Hebrew name Miryam, which means "beloved" or "loved one." It was the name of the mother of Jesus Christ in the New Testament of the Bible. The name Theresa is derived from the Greek name Theresia, which means "harvester."
The name Marytheresa likely emerged in Christian communities during the Middle Ages, as a way to honor the Virgin Mary and Saint Theresa of Avila, a prominent 16th-century Spanish mystic and reformer of the Carmelite Order. Saint Theresa of Avila, whose birth name was Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (1515-1582), was a influential figure in the Catholic Reformation and is honored as a Doctor of the Church.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marytheresa can be found in the 17th century. Marytheresa Sambourne (1647-1700) was an English writer and translator who published works on religion and philosophy. In the 18th century, Marytheresa Bradshaw (1737-1813) was a British artist known for her portrait miniatures.
The name gained prominence in the 19th century with figures like Marytheresa Longworth (1808-1862), an American philanthropist and socialite, and Marytheresa Martin (1842-1912), an Australian author and journalist. Marytheresa Tietjens (1831-1877) was a renowned German operatic soprano who performed in major opera houses across Europe.
In the 20th century, Marytheresa Rilke (1901-1944) was a German poet and the daughter of the famous poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Marytheresa Gavarone (1904-1985) was an Italian actress who appeared in several films during the golden age of Italian cinema.
People
Marytheresa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marytheresa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marytheresa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marytheresa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marytheresa 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 11,425,145 US residents.
Is Marytheresa a common name?
We classify Marytheresa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 46.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 42 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marytheresa most popular?
The single biggest year for Marytheresa was 1959, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marytheresa is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marytheresa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 369 people with the name Marytheresa, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,627 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 Marytheresa 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 Marytheresa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marytheresa appears almost entirely female. Of the 366 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Marytheresa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marytheresa is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Black (2.7%). 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 Marytheresa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marytheresa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (321 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 Marytheresa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marytheresa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marytheresa 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 Marytheresa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marytheresa 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 Marytheresa 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 share the name Marytheresa?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Marytheresa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.