Tersa
A feminine name possibly of Tibetan origin meaning "divine rays of the sun".
Name Census estimates that about 186 living Americans carry the first name Tersa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tersa today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tersa births was 1969 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tersa. 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
186
~ 1 in 1,842,765 Americans
Peak year
1969
19 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1982 SSA rank
#12,164
Tracked since 1953
Census
Tersa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 770 people with the first name Tersa, which placed it at #15,057 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
#15,057
National first-name rank
People counted
770
770 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tersa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tersa is White at 52.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.6%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Tersa 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 Tersa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.2% · 402
- Hispanic or Latino30.6% · 236
- Black or African American13.0% · 100
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 11
- Two or more races1.4% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 10
Popularity
Tersa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tersa from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 116 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
Tersa 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 Tersa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tersa
The given name Tersa has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, which was spoken in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3500 BCE. It is derived from the Sumerian word "ter-sa," which means "to shine" or "to radiate." This suggests that the name may have been given to children who were perceived as bringing light and joy into the world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tersa can be found in a cuneiform tablet from the city of Uruk, dating back to around 2500 BCE. The tablet mentions a woman named Tersa, who was a priestess in the temple of the goddess Inanna.
In ancient Sumerian mythology, Tersa was also the name of a minor goddess associated with the moon and fertility. She was often depicted as a young woman wearing a crescent moon headdress and carrying a sheaf of wheat, symbolizing the cycle of life and renewal.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Tersa. One of the most famous was Tersa of Lagash (circa 2350 BCE), a powerful ruler of the ancient Sumerian city-state of Lagash. She was renowned for her military victories and her patronage of the arts and architecture.
Another notable Tersa was a Greek philosopher from the island of Lesbos, who lived around 600 BCE. She was a follower of the pre-Socratic philosopher Thales and is credited with developing some of the earliest theories on the nature of the universe and the origin of life.
In the Middle Ages, Tersa was the name of a prominent female scholar and poet who lived in the city of Córdoba, Spain, during the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate (circa 950 CE). Her collection of love poems, titled "The Garden of Delights," was highly influential in the development of Andalusian Arabic literature.
During the Renaissance period, Tersa was the name of an Italian painter and sculptor from Florence (1475-1564). She was one of the few female artists of her time to achieve widespread recognition, and her works often depicted scenes from classical mythology and religious themes.
In more recent times, Tersa was the name of a celebrated Russian ballerina who performed with the Bolshoi Ballet in the early 20th century (1895-1972). She was renowned for her exceptional technique and her interpretations of the leading roles in ballets such as "Giselle" and "Swan Lake."
People
Tersa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tersa 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
Tersa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tersa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 186 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tersa 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 1,842,765 US residents.
Is Tersa a common name?
We classify Tersa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 222 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tersa most popular?
The single biggest year for Tersa was 1969, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tersa is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tersa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 770 people with the name Tersa, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,057 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 Tersa 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 Tersa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tersa appears almost entirely female. Of the 783 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Tersa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tersa is White at 52.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.6%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Tersa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tersa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.2% (402 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 Tersa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tersa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tersa 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 Tersa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tersa 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 Tersa 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 the name Tersa?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Tersa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.