Tressie
Originally a French diminutive form of Theresa, meaning "harvester" or "gatherer".
Name Census estimates that about 1,426 living Americans carry the first name Tressie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tressie today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tressie births was 1917 (142 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tressie. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,361 Americans
Peak year
1917
142 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1917 SSA rank
#3,931
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Tressie
Out of the 5,361 babies given the name Tressie since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tressie as a male name
- Ranked #3,931 in 1917
- 6 male births in 1917
- Peak: 1917 (6 births)
Tressie as a female name
- Ranked #17,429 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (139 births)
Popularity
Tressie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tressie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,055 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tressie 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 Tressie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tressies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Tressie, while Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 112 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tressie
The name Tressie is an English feminine given name derived from the French word "tresse," which means "braid" or "plait." It originated in the late 19th century as a variation of the more common name Theresa.
Tressie likely emerged as a name in its own right among English-speaking communities, particularly in the United States, during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The association with braided hair may have contributed to its popularity as a feminine name during this period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tressie was Tressie Souers, an American actress born in 1882. She appeared in several silent films in the early 20th century, including "The Flaming Crisis" in 1924.
Another notable bearer of the name was Tressie Lockhart, an American actress and singer born in 1900. She performed on Broadway and in vaudeville shows during the 1920s and 1930s.
Tressie Hendrix, born in 1919, was an American country music singer and songwriter. She is best known for her hit song "Floyd's Truck Stop" and her contributions to the Bakersfield sound in the 1960s.
Tressie McMillan Cottom is a contemporary American author, professor, and sociologist. Born in 1976, she is known for her book "Thick: And Other Essays" and her research on inequality, education, and technology.
Tressie Davis was a British television actress and singer who appeared in several popular shows in the 1960s and 1970s, including "The Avengers" and "Steptoe and Son."
While the name Tressie is not as common today as it once was, it has a rich history rooted in its association with braided hair and its emergence as a feminine name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its bearers have included actresses, singers, authors, and other notable individuals throughout the past century.
People
Tressie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tressie 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
Tressie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tressie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,426 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tressie 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 240,361 US residents.
Is Tressie a common name?
We classify Tressie as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,361 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tressie most popular?
The single biggest year for Tressie was 1917, when 142 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tressie is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tressie a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Tressie 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.