Tessa
Tessa was given to 978 girls in 2025, #311 among girls’ names; 55,939 Americans have been recorded with it since 1891 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 54,700 Americans named Tessa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 12 and 33.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tessa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tessa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tessa is “a diminutive of the female given name Teresa, from Ancient Greek.”
Contraction of Teresa.
/ˈtɛsə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tessa?
#311 among girls’ names, 2025
Tessa fell from #208 in 2015 to #311 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.87 to 0.61 per 1,000.
1,753 babies in 2007, the peak
Tessa peaked in 2007, when 1,753 girls were given it, #190 among girls’ names. The 978 births of 2025 are 56% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 978 | #311 | 0.61 |
| 2024 | 1,036 | #303 | 0.64 |
| 2023 | 964 | #323 | 0.60 |
| 2022 | 973 | #332 | 0.59 |
| 2021 | 1,118 | #287 | 0.68 |
| 2020 | 1,135 | #281 | 0.70 |
| 2019 | 1,268 | #260 | 0.76 |
| 2018 | 1,329 | #245 | 0.78 |
| 2017 | 1,296 | #245 | 0.75 |
| 2016 | 1,395 | #230 | 0.79 |
Every recorded year (101)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,560 | #208 | 0.87 |
| 2014 | 1,527 | #221 | 0.85 |
| 2013 | 1,324 | #244 | 0.75 |
| 2012 | 1,366 | #233 | 0.78 |
| 2011 | 1,391 | #229 | 0.79 |
| 2010 | 1,427 | #221 | 0.80 |
| 2009 | 1,569 | #207 | 0.85 |
| 2008 | 1,660 | #203 | 0.88 |
| 2007 | 1,753 | #190 | 0.91 |
| 2006 | 1,354 | #251 | 0.71 |
| 2005 | 1,224 | #269 | 0.66 |
| 2004 | 1,184 | #276 | 0.64 |
| 2003 | 1,112 | #281 | 0.61 |
| 2002 | 1,064 | #294 | 0.59 |
| 2001 | 1,047 | #301 | 0.58 |
| 2000 | 1,210 | #266 | 0.67 |
| 1999 | 1,248 | #251 | 0.70 |
| 1998 | 1,377 | #224 | 0.78 |
| 1997 | 1,358 | #218 | 0.78 |
| 1996 | 1,254 | #226 | 0.72 |
| 1995 | 1,119 | #253 | 0.64 |
| 1994 | 1,158 | #241 | 0.65 |
| 1993 | 1,259 | #218 | 0.70 |
| 1992 | 1,164 | #236 | 0.63 |
| 1991 | 1,149 | #243 | 0.61 |
| 1990 | 955 | #290 | 0.50 |
| 1989 | 694 | #370 | 0.38 |
| 1988 | 588 | #408 | 0.33 |
| 1987 | 566 | #402 | 0.33 |
| 1986 | 619 | #376 | 0.36 |
| 1985 | 683 | #344 | 0.40 |
| 1984 | 777 | #307 | 0.46 |
| 1983 | 816 | #289 | 0.49 |
| 1982 | 650 | #359 | 0.38 |
| 1981 | 571 | #395 | 0.34 |
| 1980 | 361 | #526 | 0.22 |
| 1979 | 438 | #461 | 0.27 |
| 1978 | 441 | #452 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 262 | #637 | 0.17 |
| 1976 | 341 | #523 | 0.23 |
| 1975 | 289 | #575 | 0.20 |
| 1974 | 285 | #565 | 0.19 |
| 1973 | 309 | #542 | 0.21 |
| 1972 | 209 | #697 | 0.14 |
| 1971 | 215 | #710 | 0.13 |
| 1970 | 180 | #786 | 0.10 |
| 1969 | 144 | #875 | 0.09 |
| 1968 | 115 | #971 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 96 | #1,066 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 119 | #927 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 108 | #1,008 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 140 | #880 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 43 | #1,784 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 31 | #2,156 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 47 | #1,661 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 24 | #2,506 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 34 | #1,946 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 15 | #3,219 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 13 | #3,472 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 7 | #5,271 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 20 | #2,545 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 11 | #3,692 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 17 | #2,689 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 16 | #2,788 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,797 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 17 | #2,523 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 23 | #2,062 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 22 | #2,120 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 32 | #1,719 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 30 | #1,642 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 36 | #1,352 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 31 | #1,481 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 9 | #3,466 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,880 | under 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #4,299 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 5 | #5,206 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,808 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,334 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,971 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 7 | #4,407 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,673 | under 0.01 |
| 1918 | 11 | #3,005 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #5,078 | under 0.01 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,756 | 0.01 |
| 1904 | 5 | #2,141 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 5 | #2,193 | 0.02 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,789 | 0.02 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,685 | 0.02 |
| 1893 | 7 | #1,271 | 0.03 |
| 1892 | 8 | #1,162 | 0.04 |
| 1891 | 6 | #1,321 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Tessa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Tessa has been given almost only to girls: 13 boys in 101 years of records.
Girls and boys named Tessa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tessa, and how old are they?
54,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 55,939 Americans ever recorded as Tessa. The median Tessa alive today is 21 years old; half are between 12 and 33.
The 2020 Census counted 47,455 people named Tessa (47,410 women and girls, 45 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 49,128 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 47 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 446 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,670 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 13,700 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 21,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 15,800 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Tessa born?
The states with the most babies named Tessa are Texas, California and New York, with 27% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 98 | #357 | 0.7× |
| California | 94 | #349 | 0.7× |
| New York | 64 | #266 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 52 | #197 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 44 | #257 | 1.2× |
| New Jersey | 44 | #190 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 43 | #441 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 40 | #227 | 1.1× |
| Massachusetts | 38 | #152 | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 33 | #345 | 1.2× |
Where Tessa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tessa is most over-represented in South Dakota: since 1910 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Tessa with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 69,941 babies since 1880, Tessa is the most given (80% of them). In 2025 it was given to 978 of their 991 babies (99%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Tessa
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Tessa and names like it
- Compare Tessa and TessieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sTessa peaked in 2007.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tessa since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Tessa: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2007The year the most babies were named Tessa.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Tessa alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with TMost given first.