Humanverse

Teresita vs Teri

American parents have registered 44,171 Teris since 1880, against 3,376 Teresitas. But in 2025 it was Teresita that was commoner, 10 babies to 7.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Teresita against Teri, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Teresita Teri

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 115 years in which either name was published, Teri for 76 years and Teresita for 39 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Teresita Teri
Total US births 3,37644,171
Most in one year 802,339
Babies in 2025 107
Estimated living today 2,80039,000
Median age today 4961
Peak year 19621960
Best rank 1,230th girls171st girls
Rank in 2025 9,457th11,932nd
First recorded 18911920
Girls / boys 3,376 / 043,957 / 214

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Teris alive today are over 61; half the Teresitas are over 49. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Teresita and Teri.