Girls' name · peaked in 2007

Tessa name popularity since 1925

55,843 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Tessa. Half of them were born in 2004 or earlier, so the typical Tessa is about 22 years old in 2026. Tessa peaked in 2007 as the #190 name for girls, and it ranked #311 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 55,843; Named Tessa, 1925–2025
Peak year: 2007; #190 for girls that year
Typical age: About 22; Median birth year 2004
In 2025: #311; for girls in 2025 (978 babies)
Girls / boys: 100.0% girls; 55,830 girls · 13 boys
Most popular in: Utah; 2.76× its national share

Peak year is the year Tessa made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Tessa births per year, 1925–2025

2007 was the biggest year for Tessa both by count and as a share of all babies.

Fastest rise: Between 1968 and 1973, Tessa became 3× more common, from 1 in 14,300 baby girls to 1 in 4,720.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Tessa's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Tessa.

Decade by decade

Babies named Tessa in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	5	0	–
1930s	11	0	Under 5
1940s	183	0	#1,353
1950s	165	0	#2,546
1960s	867	0	#1,008
1970s	2,969	0	#575
1980s	6,325	5	#344
1990s	12,041	0	#253
2000s	13,177	8	#269
2010s	13,883	0	#208
2020–25	6,204	0	#311

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000. "Under 5" means fewer than 5 girls got the name.

Generation fingerprint

38.2% of babies named Tessa from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Z years (1997–2012). The full split by generation:

Where Tessa is most popular

The index compares Tessa's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Tessa.

State	Index	Babies
Utah	2.76×	1,270
South Dakota	2.51×	433
Montana	2.14×	338
Idaho	2.07×	445
Colorado	1.92×	1,281

Other spellings

Spellings that sound like Tessa and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.

Spelling	Girls	Peak year
Tessa (this page)	55,830	2007
Tesa	1,382	1996

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Tessa's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Tessa.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Tessa (2007).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data