Some days ago I reached out for your opinion about [name_f]Theresa[/name_f], which is very popular in [name_f]Austria[/name_f] and [name_m]Germany[/name_m] (and spelled slightly different in other countries as well) but is out of the top 1000 in the US. Since we consider to move to the U.S. in the next years I am worrying whether [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] will be the best choice for our baby, so now I think about other options.
Anyhow, what I am curious about is why [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] became so unpopular in the U.S. As an European I consider it to be as classic as [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_u]Maria[/name_u] etc. All of the mentioned names were widely used in our parents and grandparents generations and are still beloved by new parents. What is wrong with [name_f]Theresa[/name_f]? Is it the sound? Are there negative associations (apart from [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] may - this one does not count, since Theresas downfall began long before [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] [name_f]May[/name_f]).
There is nothing wrong with [name_f]Theresa[/name_f]. Maybe it is a name that has gone out of fashion. [name_f]My[/name_f] second daughter was called [name_f]Melissa[/name_f] and I find people calling it stale and out of fashion. I still love the name, especially as my daughter died 8 years ago. To say [name_f]Melissa[/name_f] gives me much joy. If you love [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] use it. donāt worry what others think. It is a classic beautiful name.
Iām with you, I think [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] is delightful. It reads as a classic to me as well. It has long usage and historical roots, and none of the individual sounds seem linked to a certain era. Iām an Australian myself and I can only speculate why [name_f]Theresa[/name_f]ās popularity dropped off or why it might be seen differently in the US than in Europe, but I have a few ideas.
I notice in the US name age calculators that a person named [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] is likely aged between her late forties and fifties, so that could be contributing to the feeling that itās not quite ready to used. [name_f]Tessa[/name_f] also started being used as a first name a lot more from the 70s onwards. It feels like a fresh alternative so perhaps that dynamic is putting [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] in a different light, as formal or outdated.
But I imagine there would probably be other aspects at play, like immigration patterns from European countries like [name_f]Italy[/name_f], whether the next generations passed on family names or chose names that would fit in. Thereās the association to Mother [name_f]Teresa[/name_f], while I wouldnāt say thatās negative, it could be linked to Catholicism and might feel too ābigā or serious a name for a new born.
Theresa is a classic but I think it just doesnāt have that universally popular vibe of [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and [name_f]Rebekah[/name_f] I think people just donāt necessarily gravitate towards the name [name_f]Theresa[/name_f]. Maybe people think itās dated? But honestly if you love [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] use it! [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] is such a feminine classy choice and I think itās a good thing that the name is unpopular in the country your considering moving too at least she wonāt have to be [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] M or whatever
[name_f]Theresa[/name_f] simply faded from popularity as it felt more dated. Itās not considered as classic and evergreen as [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] here.
[name_f]Theresa[/name_f] is a great name! I think it would be fresh and unexpected on a little girl today. Iād definitely encourage you to stick with it.
I truly had no idea [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] was out of the top 1000 in the US, I know several including some my age (20s), so I totally donāt see it as dated or rare. The young adult Theresas I know do go by [name_f]Tess[/name_f] or [name_f]Tessa[/name_f], while the older ones go by [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] or [name_f]Terri[/name_f]. I also know or know of a few children named [name_f]Tess[/name_f] or [name_f]Tessa[/name_f], and I guess I always assumed their full name was [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] because thatās the case for the somewhat older people named [name_f]Tess[/name_f] I know. But I guess [name_f]Tessa[/name_f] is much more common as the given name now, which is a shame because I really do think [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] is a gorgeous classic and giving it as the full FN gives a little [name_f]Tess[/name_f]/Tessa way more options as she grows.
Also I do notice from checking out the charts that the variant Teresa is still in the top 1000, although itās also dropped significantly over time, and both names peaked in the 1960s and were relatively high through the 1990s. I think itās familiar enough and has a long enough pattern of use that it would be perfectly usable today and I really donāt think it feels dated even if it peaked in a particular generation.
^^All of this. I really donāt think thereās a particular reason it rose and fell, other than that it happens to pretty much all names except a very select few evergreen classics. Which means I also think itāll come backāalthough probably not for a few more decades based on the ā100 year rule.ā So really, youād be ahead of the curve on a lovely name, imo!
I canāt think of any negative associations with [name_f]Theresa[/name_f]. I do associate it with Catholicism (much less so for short forms [name_f]Tessa[/name_f]/Tess for whatever reason), but that could even be a benefit depending what youāre looking for!
Theresa doesnāt have any negative associations as far as I can tell, people just started naming their babies [name_f]Tess[/name_f] and [name_f]Tessa[/name_f] instead. [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] is a beautiful name.
Thank you for the tipp with the age name calculator. Very interesting. [name_f]Theresa[/name_f]/Teresa was the ā[name_f]Emma[/name_f]ā of the 60ies with yearly about 25000 girls being named that name. No wonder people became tired of hearing it
Theresa was very popular I think in the 50ās. Itās a nice name, but hasnāt had time to bounce back in popularity yet. There are many saints by this name, including the [name_m]Little[/name_m] [name_f]Flower[/name_f] and St. [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] of [name_f]Avila[/name_f].
I donāt live in the US but I can tell you that in the UK [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] was popular around the 1950s but it has since fallen out of fashion. I canāt pinpoint one specific reason for this. [name_f]My[/name_f] first theory is that in this country it was never a classic name in the same sense as [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] or [name_f]Anna[/name_f], which perhaps made it susceptible to becoming ādatedā. [name_f]My[/name_f] second theory is that the association with Mother [name_f]Teresa[/name_f] may have given the name a religious Catholic image and made non-Catholic or secular parents less inclined to choose it.
But on the whole, I think [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] is a nice name, it has plenty of interesting namesakes and I see no reason why it wouldnāt be usable.