Theresa - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 3 syll. (t)he-re-sa, th-er-esa ] The girl name Theresa is pronounced TerIYSah or TerEYSah ^KEY. Theresa's language of origin is Old Greek. It is predominantly used in English and German. The meaning of Theresa is 'hunter; harvest; guardian; woman from Therasia'. The name is of uncertain origin. It was first adopted in Spain and Portugal, where it was known in the 5th century from Saint Paulinus of Nola's wife, a Spanish woman named Therasia; she was supposed to have been born on the Greek island Thera, known today as Santorini. The island name could be derived from the Old Greek ther ('animal, game'), or else from other Greek words meaning 'harvest' or 'guardian'. Therasia is also the name of a small island to the west of Santorini, separated by an eruption; the first name is thus sometimes taken to mean 'woman from Therasia'. The first name was later borne by Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), a prominent Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun, and Saint Thérèse de Lisieux (1873-1897), a Carmelite nun also recognized as a Doctor of the Church by the Roman Catholics; the name was thus popular among Roman Catholics in medieval times. English speakers took up the name in the 18th century, by when the Catholic association had been largely diminished. The first name is today well-known from Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu; 1910-1997), a Roman Catholic nun born in Albania and residing in India. Theresa is the feminine version of the Italian Teresio.

The name Theresa is widely used; it has 92 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of the name include Terese (used in Scandinavian as well), Teresea, Teresha, Teresina (used in Italian as well), Teresine, Teressa, Terest, Terez (used in Hungarian as well), Tereze, Terie, Terina, Tery, Tessi, Tessy, Theresha, Theressa, Theria, Therra, Therressa, Thersa, Thresa, Trace, Tracey, Traci, Tracie, Tresa (used in German as well), Tresha, Tressa, Trica, and Zita (used in Hungarian, Spanish, German, and Italian as well). Other English forms include the short form Teri, the pet forms Ressie, Teesa, Tera, Terra, Terri, Terrie, Terry, Tesa (used in Polish as well), Tesha, Tesia (used in Polish as well), Tess, Tessa, Tesse, Tessia, Tessie, Tezia, Thera, Tracy, and Tressie, and the spelling variants Tereasa, Teresa (used in Italian, and Spanish as well), Terisa, and Terresa.

Forms of Theresa used in foreign languages include the Hawaiian Keleka, the Polish and German Renia, the German Resel, the Czech Reza, the Hungarian Rezi, the Czech Rezka, the Hungarian Riza, the Greek Tassos, the Dutch Tayeska, the Hungarian Teca, the Spanish Techa, the Hungarian Tercsa, the Polish Terenia, the German Teresia, the Polish Tereska, the Brazilian, Czech, Hungarian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Slavic Tereza, the Czech and Hungarian Terezia, the Czech Terezie, the Russian Terezilya, the Czech Terezka, the Hungarian Terike, the Italian Tersa, the Hungarian Teruska, the German Theres, the French and German Therese, the German Theresia, the French Thérèse, the Irish Treasa, the German Trescha, the Hungarian Treszka, and the Russian Zilya. Specific foreign variants include the short form Tere (Spanish), and the pet forms Reserl (German), Resi (German), Resli (German), Teresita (Spanish), Tete (Spanish), and Tisa (Swahili).

Theresa is an all-time favorite. Today it is still a somewhat popular baby girl name, but not as much as it was previously. At the height of its usage in 1961, 0.577% of baby girls were named Theresa. It was #35 in rank then. The baby name has steeply slipped in popularity since then, and is currently used only on a modest scale. In 2008, it ranked at #852 with a usage of 0.016%, but it was nevertheless the 3rd most popular after the English Tessa and the English, Italian, and Spanish Teresa, within all girl names in its family. It was 5 times more commonly used than Theresa in 2008.

Baby names that sound like Theresa include the English, Italian, and Spanish Teresa, the English Terisa, the Spanish Maria Teresa, the English Tarasa, the English Tarasha, the Indian Tarika, the English Teresea, the English Teressa, the Brazilian, Czech, Hungarian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Slavic Tereza, the Czech Terezie, the Czech Terezka, the English Terica, the English Thedorsha, the English Thedrica, the English Therressa, the English Tracia, the English Trisia, the English Trysia, the English Tarisa, and the English Tarisha.

A famous person named Theresa is Terri Schiavo, Medical Patient, born Theresa Marie Schindler 3 December 1963 - 31 March 2005.

---

Name Popularity Trend + Variant Popularity ChartVariant Popularity Trend + Variant Popularity ChartSound-Like Popularity Trend + Sound-Like Comparison Chart