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Tessie

#11,831 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Theresa

Tessie has been given to 9,991 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #11,831 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1917, with 393 recorded.

Babies named Tessie, 2025

1 in 414,000

Tessie over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tessie: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Theresa

Spanish

What Tessie means

Tessie is a diminutive of Theresa.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Tessie is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈtɛs.i/ for Tessie.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Tessie → Theresa. The family’s proposed meaning is “summer”, recorded in the naming reference for Theresa.

Origin, language, and formation

Tessie is used in English. Its origins include Spanish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Theresa, Teresita and Teresa.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 9,981 girls were recorded with the name Tessie between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 393 in 1917; its best national rank was #311 in 1917.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,481 in 2020 to #11,831 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #10,089 in 2015 to #11,831 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 boys were recorded with the name Tessie between 1918 and 1922. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1918; its best national rank was #4,737 in 1918.

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 Tessie?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 201,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#11,831
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Tessie 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 2025 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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tessie. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tessies were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tessie was born before 1922 — so the typical Tessie is around 103 today.

Median birth year
1922
About 103 years old
Biggest decade
1910s
25.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.1%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,510
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1910s — 25.9% of all recorded uses (2,583).

Is Tessie 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
−2,330
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,350
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,742
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.73×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
2.0%
Peak was 1917 (393)
Years since peak
108
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#311
1917

Spellings of Tessie

Tessie is not the most common spelling — Leslie is, with 24.3% against Tessie's 0.90%.

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.

Where Tessie is used

Across 1910–2025, Tessie was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 7,143 girls, against 1 in 26,321 across all states with data. It was least common in Utah (1 in —).

014 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 7,143
  2. 2New York1 in 8,333
  3. 3Louisiana1 in 10,000
  4. 4Connecticut1 in 12,500
  5. 5Alabama1 in 14,286
  6. 6Arkansas1 in 20,000
  7. 7North Carolina1 in 20,000
  8. 8New Mexico1 in 20,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Tessie has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Tessie around the world

Where Tessie 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
    2005–2025
    #4,867
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2021–2021
    #350
    in 2021
  • Ireland
    2014–2021
    #883
    in 2021
  • France
    1984–2022
    #6,534
    in 2022
  • Canada
    1993–1993
    #2,149
    in 1993
  • South Australia
    1952–2008
    #796
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Tessie

People whose public names include Tessie, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Tessie by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#11,831
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,350
Best rank ever
#311
1917
Peak year
1917
393 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
9,981
Count in 2025
8

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,737
1918
Peak year
1918
5 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
1922
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Tessie

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

DessieMaisieKassieTessKelsieChelsieTessaTressieCasieGussieCassieJossieLessieKasieRossieHassieTessiaKaysieTeslaEssieDaisieKensieTeshaVersie

Names with a curve like Tessie

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Tessie, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AlvinaEldaErnaEdytheIolaIoneFannyVestaLeoneSibylMadgeAlbina

Sibling names for Tessie

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

Explore around Tessie

Top names of 1917, Tessie's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1917Girls' names starting with T