Tessla
A feminine variant of the name Tessa, potentially deriving from the Greek word "tessares" meaning four.
Name Census estimates that about 211 living Americans carry the first name Tessla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tessla today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tessla births was 1991 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tessla. 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
211
~ 1 in 1,624,428 Americans
Peak year
1991
18 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2018 SSA rank
#15,507
Tracked since 1989
Census
Tessla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205 people with the first name Tessla, which placed it at #37,817 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
#37,817
National first-name rank
People counted
205
205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tessla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tessla is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Tessla 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 Tessla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.1% · 156
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 26
- Two or more races4.9% · 10
- Black or African American2.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 3
Popularity
Tessla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tessla from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 101 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Tessla remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tessla 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 Tessla 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 Tessla
The name Tessla is believed to have originated from the ancient Greek language, where it was a variant spelling of the word "tessa," which means "four." This suggests that the name may have been associated with the concept of completeness or wholeness in ancient Greek culture, as the number four was often considered a symbol of stability and balance.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Tessla was recorded as being used by a few early Christian martyrs and saints, although historical records are scarce and the details are often shrouded in legend. One such figure was Saint Tessla of Carthage, who was said to have been martyred during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century.
The name Tessla gained some prominence in medieval Europe, particularly in the regions of modern-day Italy and Greece. One notable bearer of the name was Tessla of Montferrat (c. 1180-1247), a noblewoman and patron of the arts who was known for her support of troubadours and poets during the Italian Renaissance.
In the 16th century, the name Tessla appeared in the historical records of the Ottoman Empire, where it was used by a few prominent figures, including Tessla Pasha (c. 1525-1587), a military commander and governor of several provinces in the Balkans.
During the Age of Exploration, the name Tessla was carried to the Americas by European settlers and explorers. One of the earliest recorded instances was Tessla de la Vega (c. 1560-1634), a Spanish conquistadora who accompanied her husband on expeditions to the Caribbean and Central America.
Another notable figure was Tessla Nightingale (1820-1910), a British nurse and social reformer who is widely considered the founder of modern nursing. Her pioneering work in improving sanitary conditions in hospitals and advocating for better healthcare for soldiers during the Crimean War earned her widespread recognition and respect.
People
Tessla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tessla 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
Tessla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tessla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 211 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tessla 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 1,624,428 US residents.
Is Tessla a common name?
We classify Tessla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 216 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tessla most popular?
The single biggest year for Tessla was 1991, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tessla is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tessla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205 people with the name Tessla, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,817 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 Tessla 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 Tessla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tessla leans strongly female. 200 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 4 male bearers (2.0%). 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 Tessla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tessla is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Tessla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tessla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.1% (156 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 Tessla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tessla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tessla 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 Tessla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tessla 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 Tessla 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 Tessla as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.