Humanverse

Theresa vs Thersa

American parents have registered 405,831 Theresas since 1880, against 1,071 Thersas. Theresa is still ahead, with 136 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Theresa against Thersa, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Theresa Thersa

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

Theresa has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2001, when Theresa had 602 and Thersa had 6.

Side by side

  Theresa Thersa
Total US births 405,8311,071
Most in one year 11,99145
Babies in 2025 136under 5
Estimated living today 266,000750
Median age today 6259
Peak year 19611965
Best rank 35th girls1,672nd girls
Rank in 2025 1,548thunranked
First recorded 18801908
Girls / boys 404,613 / 1,2181,071 / 0

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 Theresas alive today are over 62; half the Thersas are over 59. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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