Teshia
Feminine form of the Italian name Tesio, of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 420 living Americans carry the first name Teshia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Teshia today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Teshia births was 1979 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Teshia. 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
420
~ 1 in 816,082 Americans
Peak year
1979
25 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1999 SSA rank
#16,720
Tracked since 1964
Census
Teshia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 378 people with the first name Teshia, which placed it at #25,170 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
#25,170
National first-name rank
People counted
378
378 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
58.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Teshia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teshia is Black at 58.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Teshia 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 Teshia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American58.7% · 222
- White31.0% · 117
- Two or more races6.3% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Teshia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Teshia from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 171 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Teshia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Teshia 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 Teshia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Teshias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. North Carolina, California, New York recorded the most babies named Teshia, while New York, California, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Teshia
The given name Teshia is a relatively modern name with uncertain origins. It is believed to be a variation or derivative of the name Tessa, which itself is a shortened form of the Italian name Teresa or the Spanish name Teresa. These names trace their roots back to the Greek name Theresia, meaning "harvester" or "one who harvests."
Teshia may have emerged as a creative spelling or combination of the names Tessa and Shia, with the latter being a Hebrew name meaning "gift from God." However, there is no definitive historical evidence to support this theory.
While the name Teshia has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States and some parts of Europe, there are no significant historical references or notable figures from ancient times associated with this specific name.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Teshia can be found in various birth records and personal documents from the late 20th century. However, it is essential to note that due to the name's relative novelty, there are no famous individuals from distant history who bore this particular name.
Nevertheless, here are five individuals who have been known by the name Teshia in more recent times:
1. Teshia Brownlow, an American model and social media influencer born in the 1990s.
2. Teshia Agee, an American actress and television personality known for her role in the reality show "Basketball Wives" in the early 2010s.
3. Teshia Sewell, a professional boxer from the United States who competed in the 2000s and 2010s.
4. Teshia Mateo, a Filipino-American singer and songwriter active in the 2010s.
5. Teshia Humphries, an American basketball player who played for various teams in the WNBA during the late 2000s and early 2010s.
It is worth noting that while these individuals have achieved some level of recognition, particularly within their respective fields, the name Teshia remains relatively uncommon, and its historical significance is limited due to its recent emergence and usage.
People
Teshia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Teshia 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
Teshia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Teshia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 420 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Teshia 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 816,082 US residents.
Is Teshia a common name?
We classify Teshia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 452 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Teshia most popular?
The single biggest year for Teshia was 1979, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Teshia is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Teshia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 378 people with the name Teshia, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,170 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 Teshia 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 Teshia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Teshia appears almost entirely female. Of the 382 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Teshia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teshia is Black at 58.7%. The next largest groups are White (31.0%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Teshia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Teshia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.7% (222 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 Teshia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Teshia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Teshia 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 Teshia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Teshia 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 Teshia 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 Americans are named Teshia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.