Thera

Girls' name

Diminutive of Theresia

Thera has been given to 892 babies in the U.S. since 1899. 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 1982, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Thera, 2024

1 in 669,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Thera: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Theresia

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Thera means

Thera is a diminutive of Theresia.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Thera is used in Dutch.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈteː.raː/ for Thera.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Theresia.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 892 girls were recorded with the name Thera between 1899 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 31 in 1982; its best national rank was #1,023 in 1899.

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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Thera?

Thera had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024: 1 in 669,000; 5 of 3,342,801 births
Among girls only: 1 in 324,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2024: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 463,412 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Thera 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 2024 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 463,412 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Thera. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Theras were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Thera was born before 1944 — so the typical Thera is around 81 today.

Median birth year: 1944; About 81 years old
Biggest decade: 1980s; 20.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 3.1%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 405; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1980s — 20.5% of all recorded uses (183).

Is Thera 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 1982 (31)
Years since peak: 43; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 41.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,023; 1899

Spellings of Thera

Thera is not the most common spelling — Theresa is, with 27.3% against Thera's 0.06%.

Theresa27.3%404,613
Thelma15.2%225,460
Tara11.8%175,812
Vera10.1%149,456
Sheri4.1%60,464
Athena3.6%53,118
Teri3.0%43,957
Cheri2.4%36,068

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 Thera is used

Across 1910–2025, Thera was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 2,456,184 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Texas1 in —

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. Thera has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Thera around the world

Where Thera 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.

South Australia
1991–1991
#669
in 1991

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Thera 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: #1,023; 1899
Peak year: 1982; 31 that year
First recorded: 1899
Last recorded: 2024
All-time count: 892
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Thera

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

Theia Thena Amera Veera Theora Theta Hera Theo Valera Theona Thersa Zera Siera Theodore Alera Mera Theory Samera Cera Thelda Viera Sera Keera Tiera

Sibling names for Thera

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

Eboni Lyndsay Shamika Afton Christopher Kandi Matthew Fawn

For a brother

Jamaal Donnell Jerrod Chauncey Leopoldo Jerod Dusty Marques

Explore around Thera

Top names of 1982, Thera's peak year The 1980s in full Other names that peaked in 1899 Girls' names starting with T