Tesa
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "gentle" or "calm".
Name Census estimates that about 1,295 living Americans carry the first name Tesa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tesa today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tesa births was 1992 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tesa. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 264,675 Americans
Peak year
1992
47 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,395
Tracked since 1956
Popularity
Tesa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tesa from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 386 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tesa 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 Tesa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tesas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Ohio, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Tesa, while Georgia, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tesa
The name Tesa has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly in the regions of modern-day Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is believed to have emerged around the 9th century AD, during the period of the Great Moravian Empire.
Tesa is derived from the Slavic word "tesa," which means "carpenter" or "woodworker." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to individuals who worked with wood or were involved in the construction of wooden structures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tesa can be found in the "Gesta Hungarorum" (Deeds of the Hungarians), a 13th-century chronicle written by an anonymous author. In this text, a Croatian nobleman named Tesa is mentioned as a participant in the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin.
In the 14th century, a Bosnian noblewoman named Tesa Nikolić was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the construction of several churches and monasteries in the region.
During the Renaissance period, a Croatian painter named Tesa Cecchini (1515-1585) gained recognition for her religious works, which adorned churches throughout Dalmatia.
In the 18th century, a Serbian poet and writer named Tesa Milutinović (1730-1804) made significant contributions to the development of modern Serbian literature.
Another notable figure was Tesa Kostić (1865-1939), a Serbian journalist and activist who played a crucial role in the women's suffrage movement in the Balkans.
While the name Tesa has its roots in Slavic cultures, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, although its popularity has remained relatively limited compared to other names.
People
Tesa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tesa 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
Tesa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tesa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,295 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tesa 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 264,675 US residents.
Is Tesa a common name?
We classify Tesa as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,382 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tesa most popular?
The single biggest year for Tesa was 1992, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tesa is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tesa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tesa 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.