Teresa

Where the name comes from

• Uncertain (first recorded in the Iberian Peninsula; possibly Greek)
  Origin uncertain
  Possibly Greek θερίζω (therízō) ‘to harvest’ (DMNES). Also suggested: the Greek island name Therasia or Thera (Wiktionary; no scholarly source cited).
  DMNES: “Of uncertain origin, but possibly from Greek θερίζω ‘to harvest’.” The earliest dated forms are Latin, from Portugal and Spain: Taraxia/Taraxea (1096), Tarasia/Tharasia (1121), Taresa (Spain, 1124). Spanish Teresa/Tereysa appears from 1319, and Theresa from 1496. The name stayed in Iberia until the 16th century, when veneration of Teresa of Ávila spread it. Popular glosses such as “summer” (Greek theros) or a settled meaning “harvester” have no support in any openable scholarly source checked.

Teresa across traditions

• Christian (Iberian Catholic). For its first five centuries of record the name was Iberian. It was borne by a 12th–13th-century Portuguese saint who was queen of León, then by the 16th-century Carmelite reformer Teresa of Ávila. Veneration of Teresa of Ávila carried the name beyond Spain and Portugal (DMNES). In 1970 she became the first woman named a Doctor of the Church.
• Christian (global Catholic: France, Albania/North Macedonia, India). Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, born in Skopje, took the name Teresa in honor of the 19th-century French Carmelite St. Thérèse of Lisieux. As Mother Teresa she founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1948, received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, and was canonized in 2016.
• United States (SSA). Combined births in the seven SSA decade tables, Teresa + Theresa: 594,715 girls (Teresa 345,524; Theresa 249,191). Peak decade: 1960s, with Teresa #25 (151,793) and Theresa #42 (97,118), together 248,911. Other ranks: Teresa #30 and Theresa #39 (1950s); #52 and #80 (1970s); #126 and #132 (1980s). Neither spelling is in the top 200 after the 1980s.

Who carried it

• Saint Teresa, Portuguese royal saint and queen of León (12th–13th century): Named in DMNES as an early bearer of the name.
• Teresa of Ávila (Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada; in religion Teresa of Jesus) (March 28, 1515 – October 4, 1582): Spanish Carmelite reformer and mystic. Canonized in 1622; in 1970 the first woman named a Doctor of the Church. Her cult spread the name outside Iberia.
• St. Thérèse of Lisieux (19th century): French Carmelite nun (French form Thérèse); Mother Teresa took her religious name in her honor.
• Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) (baptized August 27, 1910 – died September 5, 1997): Founded the Missionaries of Charity (1948); Nobel Peace Prize (1979); canonized September 4, 2016.

Forms in other languages

Theresa, Thérèse, Tarasia, Taresia, Tharasia, Taresa, Tereysa, Tareza

Teresa in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.