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Teresa, Theresa, and Therese (French: Thérèse) are feminine given names. The name is thought to be derived from the Greek verb θήρίζεἰν therizein, meaning to harvest.

Its popularity likely increased due to the prominence of several Roman Catholic saints, including Teresa of Ávila, Thérèse of Lisieux and, most recently, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

The popularity of this name in the United States over the last 15 years is falling, according to the US Census. Spelled "Theresa", it was ranked as the 852nd most popular name for girls born in 2008, down from 226th in 1992 (it ranked 65th in 1950, and 102nd in 1900). Spelled "Teresa", it was the 580th most popular name for girls born in 2008, down from 206th in 1992 (it ranked 81st in 1950, and 220th in 1900).

Name variants [edit]

• Renia (Polish)
• Resa (German)
• Resel (German)
• Resi (German)
• Rezi (Hungarian)
• Riza (Hungarian)
• Rizus (Hungarian)
• Rocel (German)
• Teca (Hungarian)
• Tèrag (Scottish Gaelic)
• Techa (Spanish)
• Tere (Spanish)
• Tereixa (Galician)
• Terenia (Polish)
• Teresa (Danish, English, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish)
• Terese (Basque)
• Teresia (Swedish)
• Teresinha (Portuguese)
• Teresita (Spanish)
• Tereska (Polish)
• Tereson (French)
• Teressa (Portuguese)
• Teréz (Hungarian)
• Tereza (Breton, Bulgarian, Czech, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian)
• Teréza (Hungarian)
• Τερέζα (Tereza) (Greek)
• Terēze (Latvian)
• Terézia (Slovak)
• Terezia (Hungarian)
• Tereza (Czech)
• Terezija (Slovene)
• Terezilya (Russian)
• Terezinha (Portuguese)
• Terezka (Czech)
• Teri (English)
• Terike (Hungarian)
• Terina (Italian)
• Terinka (Czech)
• Tèrìz (Lebanese Arabic)
• Terka (Czech)
• Terri (English)
• Terrie (English)
• Terry (English)
• Tersa (Italian)
• Teruska (Hungarian)
• Tesa (Polish)
• Tesia (Polish)
• Tess (English)
• Tessa (English)
• Tessan (Swedish)
• Tessania (German)
• Tessie (English)
• Tete (Spanish)
• Tété (French)
• Thera (Dutch)
• Therasia (Latin)
• Θηρεσία (Theresia, Thiresia) (Greek)
• Theresa (Danish, English, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Indonesian)
• Thérèse (French)
• Therese (Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish)
• Theresia (Dutch, German, Greek, Swedish, Indonesian)
• Toiréasa (Irish Gaelic)
• Tracee (English)
• Tracey (English)
• Traci (English)
• Tracie (English)
• Tracy (English)
• Treasa (Irish Gaelic)
• Threissya (Malayalam)
• Trees (Dutch)
• Tresa (German)
• Trescha (German)
• Treszka (Hungarian)
• Zilya (Russian)
• Zizi (Romanian)^[1]
• Fréza (Czech)

Translations [edit]

• 德肋撒 (Chinese)
• テレサ (Japanese)
• 테레사 (Korean)

People [edit]

In aristocracy:

• Teresa Lubomirska, Polish noble lady
• Teresa of the Two Sicilies, Empress-consort of Brazil
• Teresa of Portugal (disambiguation)
• Maria Theresa (disambiguation)

In religion:

• Mother Teresa, Albanian nun, Nobel Laureate
• Several Saint Teresa, including:
  • Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, French Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church
  • Saint Teresa of Avila, Spanish Carmelite nun, prominent Counter-Reformer and Doctor of the Church
• Teresa Chikaba, Guinean princess declared as Venerable by the Catholic Church
• Teresa Demjanovich, American nun of the Sisters of Charity

In the arts:

• Teresa Berganza, Spanish opera singer
• Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer
• Teresa Carpenter, Pulitzer prize winning American author
• Teresa Carpio, Cantopop singer and actress
• Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan musician
• Teresa Cheung (socialite), Hong Kong socialite and actress
• Teresa De Sio, Italian folk singer-songwriter
• Teresa Edgerton, American author of fantasy novels and short stories
• Theresa Fu, Hong Kong singer and actress
• Therese Grankvist, Swedish singer
• Teresa Graves, American actress and singer
• Teresa Medeiros, American romance novelist
• Teresa Nielsen Hayden, American writer and teacher
• Teresa Palmer, Australian actress
• Teresa Parente, American actress
• Theresa Randle, American actress
• Theresa Russell, American actress
• Teresa Salgueiro, Portuguese singer
• Teresa Simas, Portuguese dancer and choreographer
• Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
• Teresa Teng, Taiwanese queen of pop
• Teresa Villaverde, Portuguese film director
• Lady Teresa Waugh, British novelist and translator
• Teresa Wentzler, American artist and counted cross-stitch designer
• Teresa Wright, Academy Award-winning American actress
• Teresa Żarnowerówna, Polish avant-garde artist

In politics:

• Therese Coffey, UK Member of Parliament
• Teresa Gutierrez, American politician
• Teresa Heinz (born 1938), former widow of U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III; wife of Senator John Kerry
• Teresa Isaac, American politician, former mayor of Lexington, Kentucky
• Teresa Kok, Malaysian Member of Parliament
• Theresa May, UK Member of Parliament
• Theresa Villiers, UK Member of Parliament

In sports:

• Therese Alshammar, Swedish freestyle swimmer
• Therese Crawford, American volleyball player
• Teresa Ciepły, Polish sprinter
• Teresa Earnhardt, widow of racing legend Dale Earnhardt
• Teresa Edwards, American basketball player
• Teresa Machado, Portuguese athlete
• Teresa Piccini, Mexican ten-pin bowler
• Teresa Rivera, Mexican swimmer
• Teresa Rohmann, German medley swimmer
• Teresa Vaill, American racewalker
• Theresa Zabell, Spanish sailor

Others:

• Teresa Cormack, murder victim from New Zealand
• Teresa Sickles, wife of Daniel Edgar Sickles, who stood trial for killing her lover
• Vincent Teresa, American mobster

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

Fictional characters [edit]

• Teresa "Tracy" Bond (nee Draco), Bond girl from On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
• Teresa Bryant, on the British soap opera Coronation Street
• Teresa Cammeniti, on the Australian soap opera Neighbours
• Theresa Rourke Cassidy, the alter-ego of the Marvel Comics heroine Siryn
• Teresa of The Faint Smile, in Claymore
• Teresa Lisbon, one of the main characters in the drama The Mentalist
• Theresa "Terri" McGreggor, in Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Teresa Moreno, wife of Richard Sharpe in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series of historical fiction
• Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, main protagonist from soap opera "Passions"
• Teresa of the Faint Smile, one of the main characters in the popular anime and manga series Claymore
• Teresa Chávez, main protagonist and villain from the TV Series Teresa
• Teresa Wisemail, from the PlayStation role-playing game Suikoden II
• Thérèse Defarge, the main villain of Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities
• Theresa, an immortal seeress, one of the main characters in the Fable video game series
• Theresa McQueen, from the British soap opera Hollyoaks
• Tess Durbeyfield, from Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles
• Teresa, Barbie's best friend
• Teresa, an important character in James Dashner's books The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials
• Tereza, from Milan Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being
• Tess Hutchinson, from Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery"

Notes [edit]