Theresia
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "harvester".
Name Census estimates that about 918 living Americans carry the first name Theresia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Theresia today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Theresia births was 1959 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Theresia. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Theresia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
918
~ 1 in 373,371 Americans
Peak year
1959
58 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2007 SSA rank
#15,351
Tracked since 1881
Census
Theresia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,001 people with the first name Theresia, which placed it at #7,576 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
#7,576
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,001 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Theresia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theresia is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%). 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 Theresia 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 Theresia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.8% · 1,397
- Black or African American16.8% · 337
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 172
- Two or more races2.5% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 12
Popularity
Theresia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Theresia from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 375 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Theresia 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 Theresia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Theresias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Theresia, while Pennsylvania, New York, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Theresia
Theresia is a feminine given name derived from the Greek name Θηρεσία (Thēresia), which in turn originates from the ancient Greek word θηρίον (thēríon) meaning "wild animal" or "beast". The name gained popularity during the early Christian era and was initially used by Greek-speaking populations in the Mediterranean region.
The name Theresia first appeared in religious texts and records as a reference to several early Christian saints and martyrs. One notable example is Saint Theresia of Avila, a Spanish nun and mystic who lived from 1515 to 1582 and was later canonized as a Doctor of the Church.
In the Middle Ages, the name spread throughout Europe, particularly in regions under the influence of the Catholic Church. Variants of the name, such as Teresa and Theresa, became common in countries like Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Theresia is Theresia of Lisieux, a French Carmelite nun who lived from 1873 to 1897 and was later canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. She is also known as the Little Flower of Jesus and is widely venerated for her spiritual writings and teachings.
Other notable individuals with the name Theresia throughout history include Theresia Aguilar y Velarde (1690–1762), a Spanish nun and writer; Theresia Reinhart (1796–1867), a German composer and pianist; Theresia Dillinger (1835–1894), an Austrian painter; and Theresia Reiger (1838–1906), an Austrian opera singer.
Theresia has also been a name associated with royalty and nobility, such as Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1717–1780), the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last ruler of the House of Habsburg, and Princess Theresia of Bavaria (1850–1925), a member of the Bavarian royal family.
People
Theresia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Theresia 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
Theresia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Theresia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 918 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Theresia 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 373,371 US residents.
Is Theresia a common name?
We classify Theresia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,016 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Theresia most popular?
The single biggest year for Theresia was 1959, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Theresia is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Theresia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,001 people with the name Theresia, or 0.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,576 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 Theresia 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 Theresia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Theresia appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,000 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Theresia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theresia is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%). 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 Theresia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Theresia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.8% (1,397 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 Theresia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Theresia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Theresia 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 Theresia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Theresia 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 Theresia 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 share the name Theresia?
You can see how many people have the name Theresia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.