Therese

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Teresa in ES Spain, AR Argentina, MX Mexico and 13 more, Tereza in BR Brazil and טרסה in PL Poland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 12 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Therese is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name32K records spelled Therese11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden

  Also written Thérèse, Therése, Thérése, Thèrèse, Théresè

• French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name13K records spelled Therese3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

  Also written Thérèse, Thérese

• Finnish given name6.4K records spelled Therese5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Sweden, United States, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Therése, Theresé, Thérèse

• English given name6.4K records spelled Therese193 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: English, Polish, Czech

  Also written Theresa, Teresa, Tereza, Тереза

• Swahili given name3.7K records spelled Therese11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Sweden, Congo - Kinshasa, Philippines

  Languages: Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Southern Sotho

  Also written Thérèse, Thèrèse, Therèse, Therése, Thérése

• a separate given name2.5K records spelled Therese7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, United States, Sweden, Spain

  Also written Therése, Theresé, Thérése, Thérèse, Thèrése

• Italian given name1.6K records spelled Therese4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Sweden, United Kingdom

  Also written Thérèse, Thérese, Therése

• Greek given name985 records spelled Therese6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, Sweden, United Kingdom

  Also written Thérèse, Thérése, Thèrese, Therése, Τερεζ

57 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Therese is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Du grec therizein, « moissonner »; fêtée le 15 octobre (sainte Thérèse d’Avila).

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In Swedish, Therese (m.fl. former) är den franska formen av → Teresia. Namnet var mycket populärt på 1970- och -80-talet. En känd namnbärare är simmaren Therese Alshammar (f. 1977). I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 26 april.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In French, Origine grecque, signifiant « chasse ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In German, Therese Giehse, deutsche Schauspielerin

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In Danish, a female given name, equivalent to English Teresa

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Theresa Kunegunda Sobieskab. 1676PLnot in their usual nameElectress of Bavaria and of the Electorate of the Palatinate (1676-1730)
• Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningenb. 1792DEnot in their usual nameQueen consort of the United Kingdom and Hanover from 1830 to 1837
• Julia von Haukeb. 1825PLnot in their usual nameGerman noblewoman (1825-1895); wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
• Elisabeth Förster-Nietzscheb. 1846DEnot in their usual nameSister of Friedrich Nietzsche (1846-1935)
• Hannah Höchb. 1889DEnot in their usual nameGerman artist (1889–1978)
• Gerty Corib. 1896USnot in their usual nameAustro-Hungarian-American biochemist (1896–1957)
• Mary Robinsonb. 1944IEnot in their usual nameformer President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Judy Greerb. 1975USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Lena Meyer-Landrutb. 1991DEnot in their usual nameGerman singer (born 1991)
• Lana Condorb. 1997USnot in their usual nameVietnamese-American actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 728 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Therese?

We estimate roughly 1.5 million people bear Therese (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Therese have the most bearers?

Therese is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled teresa.

Where is Therese most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Therese is densest in the Czechia — about 1 in 64 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Therese compared with other names?

In Argentina, Therese is the 108th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Therese a male or female name?

Therese is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Therese mean?

Recorded meaning: Variante de Thérèse, d’origine grecque, sens discuté; souvent rapproché de « moissonner ».