Girls' name · peaked in 1961

Theresa name popularity since 1925

360,549 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Theresa. Half of them were born in 1959 or earlier, so the typical Theresa is about 67 years old in 2026. Theresa peaked in 1961 as the #35 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 360,549; Named Theresa, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1961; #35 for girls that year
Typical age: About 67; Median birth year 1959
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #1,559 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.7% girls; 359,417 girls · 1,132 boys
Most popular in: Vermont; 2.18× its national share

Peak year is the year Theresa 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.

Theresa births per year, 1925–2025

1961 was the biggest year for Theresa both by count and as a share of all babies.

Fastest rise: Between 1951 and 1956, Theresa became 1.6× more common, from 1 in 291 baby girls to 1 in 185.
Steepest fall: Between 1999 and 2004, its share of baby girls fell by 44%, from 1 in 2,530 to 1 in 4,480.

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

Decade by decade

Babies named Theresa 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	23,449	85	–
1930s	32,785	160	#86
1940s	35,789	105	#96
1950s	89,608	181	#38
1960s	97,118	294	#45
1970s	40,076	174	#78
1980s	22,389	118	#136
1990s	10,591	15	#292
2000s	4,555	0	#637
2010s	2,198	0	#1,196
2020–25	859	0	#1,559

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

46.0% of babies named Theresa from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:

Where Theresa is most popular

The index compares Theresa'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 Theresa.

State	Index	Babies
Vermont	2.18×	1,315
Maine	2.01×	3,114
Massachusetts	1.86×	15,977
New York	1.81×	49,676
Rhode Island	1.73×	2,216

Other spellings

Spellings that sound like Theresa 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
Theresa (this page)	359,417	1961
Teresa	402,936	1962
Theressa	1,752	1899

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Theresa's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Theresa.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Theresa (1961).

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