Tertia

Girls' name

The third

Tertia has been given to 10 babies in the U.S. since 1971. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1971, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Tertia, 1985

1 in 714,000

Tertia over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tertia: meaning, origin, and history

The third

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Tertia means

Tertia means “the third”, associated with tertius.

Origin, language, and formation

Tertia is used in Latin.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Latin, Tertia is pronounced [ˈtɛr.ti.a].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Tertia between 1971 and 1985. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1971; its best national rank was #9,511 in 1971.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Tertia?

Tertia had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1985, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1985: 1 in 714,000; 5 of 3,568,740 births
Among girls only: 1 in 344,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1985: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 494,734 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Tertia sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1985 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 494,734 children born in 1985 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tertia. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tertias were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tertia was born before 1971 — so the typical Tertia is around 54 today.

Median birth year: 1971; About 54 years old
Biggest decade: 1970s; 50.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 10; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1970s — 50.0% of all recorded uses (5).

Is Tertia rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1971 (5)
Years since peak: 54; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #9,511; 1971

Spellings of Tertia

Tertia is not the most common spelling — Teresa is, with 44.8% against Tertia's <0.01%.

Teresa44.8%416,044
Bertha22.4%207,870
Terri15.7%146,113
Teri4.7%43,957
Terrie2.1%19,729
Terra1.7%15,429
Bertie1.5%13,736
Portia1.1%10,627

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Tertia around the world

Where Tertia ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
1996–1996
#3,795
in 1996
South Australia
1965–1982
#670
in 1982

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Tertia by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #9,511; 1971
Peak year: 1971; 5 that year
First recorded: 1971
Last recorded: 1985
All-time count: 10
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Tertia

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Terene Terase Teruyo Terece Tereva Terrae Terice Tereca Terynn Teriya Terral Tereas Terani Terrijo Terrlyn Terreka Terriya Terasha Terise Tersia Terykah Terenia Terrice Terron

Sibling names for Tertia

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Charisse Darcie Michell Kerrie Nicola Latonia Jenni Nicolle

For a brother

Shon Darrick Judd Douglass Alfonzo Scottie Erich Edwardo

Explore around Tertia

Top names of 1971, Tertia's peak year The 1970s in full Other names that peaked in 1971 Girls' names starting with T Latin Girl Names