Thresa
A feminine name of French origin meaning "harvester".
Name Census estimates that about 1,154 living Americans carry the first name Thresa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Thresa today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thresa births was 1964 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thresa. 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
1.2K
~ 1 in 297,014 Americans
Peak year
1964
76 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2000 SSA rank
#14,885
Tracked since 1883
Popularity
Thresa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thresa from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 541 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
Thresa 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 Thresa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thresas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan recorded the most babies named Thresa, while Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thresa
The name Thresa has its origins in the Greek language and is derived from the name Theresia, which itself is a variant of the name Theresa. The name Theresa is believed to have originated from the Greek island of Therasia, located in the Aegean Sea, near Santorini.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Theresa can be found in the writings of the Greek philosopher and theologian, Gregory of Nazianzus, who lived in the 4th century AD. He mentioned a Christian martyr named Theresa, who was persecuted during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
In the Middle Ages, the name gained popularity due to the influence of St. Teresa of Avila, a Spanish mystic and reformer of the Carmelite Order, who lived from 1515 to 1582. Her legacy and writings helped spread the name throughout Spain and other parts of Europe.
Another notable figure who bore the name was the French missionary and nun, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who lived from 1873 to 1897. Her autobiography, "Story of a Soul," and her spiritual teachings on the "little way" made her a beloved figure in the Catholic Church, and her name became popular among French and other European families.
In the 17th century, the name Thresa was used by the German philosopher and mathematician, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), who corresponded with a woman named Thresa Eugenia Maria von Wolff.
The name also has a rich history in literature, with characters such as Thresa Daubigny in the 19th-century French novel "Le Père Goriot" by Honoré de Balzac, and Thresa Raquin in Émile Zola's novel "Thérèse Raquin," published in 1867.
Throughout history, the name Thresa has been borne by various notable individuals, including the Italian opera singer Thresa Milanollo (1827-1904), the American actress Thresa Wright (1918-2005), and the British writer Thresa Stern (1934-2001).
People
Thresa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thresa 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
Thresa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thresa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,154 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thresa 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 297,014 US residents.
Is Thresa a common name?
We classify Thresa as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,334 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thresa most popular?
The single biggest year for Thresa was 1964, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thresa is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Thresa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thresa 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.