The Baby Name Wizard

Reader Contributions

Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Teresa!

Comments and insights on the name Teresa: | Edit

Teresa is a beautiful, classy name. It sounds soft, but there have been many figures in history with this name that were strong and wonderful role models for women.

Personal experiences with the name Teresa: | Edit

* My sister's name is Teresa, and she is a smart, spiritual, and beautiful young lady.

* My name is Teresa, and it's served me well. People will try to call you Terry, but I've had few problems convincing people to use my full name, which I have gone by since infancy. Either way you spell it, you will have to spell it for people 90% of the time, so pick whichever is more beautiful to you. I am always "Teresa without an H". It obviously hit a peak in the 50/60s, so people do frequently assume I'm older than I am. To me, Terry/Terri is a dated nickname, but Teresa is a timeless classic.

* There's a great variation in subtle pronunciation differences - I love being TREE-sah to some people and Ter-RAY-zah elsewhere and Ter-REESE-ah still other places. Plus there's Teresa variation in most European languages. If this bothers you, it may not be a good choice. To me, it's like having secret extra names.

Nicknames for Teresa: | Edit

Tere, Teri, Terri, Terry, Tess, Tessa,Teecee, Reese, Reesa, Tree

Meanings and history of the name Teresa: | Edit

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Famous real-life people named Teresa: | Edit

St. Teresa of Avila, Spanish Carmelite nun and mystic, Doctor of the Church
Teresa Palmer, Australian actress
Teresa Norman, Author of A World of Baby Names
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Albanian nun, Nobel Laureate, beatified (original name: Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu)
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, Hong Kong socialite and actress
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
Tereza Maxova, Czech model
Teresa Medeiros, American romance novelist
Teresa Nielsen Hayden, American writer and teacher
Teresa Parente, American actress
Teresa Ranieri, contemporary dance choreographer and lecturer
Teresa Salgueiro, Portuguese singer
Teresa Simas, Portuguese dancer and choreographer
Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
Teresa Teng, Chinese pop singer
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

Teresa in song, story & screen: | Edit

Teresa (TV series), a Mexican soap opera
Teresa (film), Rod Steiger's first film appearance
"Teresa" (song), a song by Joe Dolan that topped the Irish singles chart in 1969
"Teresa", a song by Dick Haymes & The Andrews Sisters
Teresa Bryant, character on the British soap opera Coronation Street
Teresa Cammeniti, character on the Australian soap opera Neighbours
Teresa Moreno, wife of Richard Sharpe in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series of historical fiction
Teresa of the Faint Smile, one of the main characters in the popular anime and manga series Claymore
Teresa Wisemail, a character from the PlayStation role-playing game Suikoden II
Teresa di Vicenzo (aka Tracy), fictitious character & wife of James Bond in both the novel & movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".