Teela
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "bright star" or "celestial light".
Name Census estimates that about 790 living Americans carry the first name Teela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Teela today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Teela births was 1984 (175 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Teela. 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
790
~ 1 in 433,866 Americans
Peak year
1984
175 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,139
Tracked since 1948
Popularity
Teela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Teela from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 509 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Teela 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 Teela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Teelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, Michigan, Illinois recorded the most babies named Teela, while Washington, South Carolina, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Teela
The name Teela is a relatively modern creation, first emerging in the 20th century. It does not appear to have a definitive language or cultural origin, but is instead thought to be a fanciful invention, perhaps inspired by the sound of other names like Thelma or Leela.
While the name Teela itself does not have a long historical record, it bears some resemblance to the Sanskrit name Leela, which means "play" or "sport". This could be a potential source of influence, though the connection is tenuous at best.
One of the earliest and most notable individuals to bear the name Teela was the character of the same name from the Masters of the Universe franchise, created by Mattel in the 1980s. Teela was a warrior goddess and the daughter of the Sorceress in the fictional realm of Eternia.
Outside of pop culture, the earliest recorded instance of Teela as a given name seems to be Teela Clapp, a Canadian author and educator born in 1919. Another early bearer of the name was Teela Raye, an American musician and singer born in 1938.
In the field of sports, Teela Lomax was a notable American softball player who competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. She was born in 1972 and helped the United States win gold medals in both appearances.
Moving into the 21st century, Teela LaFrance is a contemporary American actress and model, born in 1984. She has appeared in various television shows and films, including the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
While not an extensive historical record, these examples demonstrate the relatively recent emergence and use of the name Teela across various fields and contexts.
People
Teela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Teela 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
Teela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Teela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 790 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Teela 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 433,866 US residents.
Is Teela a common name?
We classify Teela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 841 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Teela most popular?
The single biggest year for Teela was 1984, when 175 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Teela is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Teela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Teela 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.
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.