How popular is the baby name Tess in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Tess.
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This is the first time I’ve seen the geometry term “tesseract” used as a baby name. As Wikipedia puts it, “the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square.” It’s a hypercube, basically. The word was coined in the 1880s from the Greek words tessera, “four,” and aktis, “ray.” Definitely an unusual name…though it does conveniently shorten to Tess.
Tatiane
Tatiane Shebanoff was a character played by actress Jacqueline Gadsden in the film His Hour (1924).
Tatuka
Tatuka was a character played by actress Velma Whitman in the short film As the Twig Is Bent (1915).
Taula
Taula was a character played by actress Ernestine Gaines in the film Aloma of the South Seas (1926).
Taupou
Taupou was a character played by actress Margaret Livingston in the film The Brute Master (1920).
Taxi Belle
Taxi Belle Hooper was a character played by actress Rita La Roy in the film Blonde Venus (1932).
Tautinei
Tautinei was a character played by actress Grace Lord in the film The Lure of the South Seas (1929).
Teala Teala Loring was an actress who appeared in films primarily in the 1940s. She was born in Colorado in 1922. Her birth name was Marcia Eloise Griffin.
Teazie
Bessie “Teazie” Williams was a character played by actress Mae Marsh in the film The White Rose (1923).
Tecolote
Tecolote was a character played by actress Dorothy Dalton in the film The Captive God (1916).
Tecza
Tecza was a character played by actress Geraldine Farrar in the film The Woman God Forgot (1917).
Teddy Teddy Sampson was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1920s. She was born in New York in 1895. Teddy was also a character name in multiple films, including Vultures of Society (1916) and Having Wonderful Time (1938).
Temple
Temple Drake was a character played by actress Miriam Hopkins in the film The Story of Temple Drake (1933). The film was based on the novel Sanctuary (1931) by William Faulkner.
Texas Texas Guinan was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1930s. She was born in Texas in 1884. Texas was also a character played by actress Dot Farley in the film Lady Be Good (1928).
Tharon
Tharon Last was a character played by actress Dorothy Dalton in the film The Crimson Challenge (1922). The film was based on the novel Tharon of Lost Valley (1919) by Vingetta “Vingie” Roe.
Theda
Theda Bara was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1920s. She was born in Ohio in 1885. Her birth name was Theodosia Burr Goodman.
Thelda
Thelda Kenvin was an actress who appeared in one film in 1926. She was born (with the first name Ethelda) in Pennsylvania in 1899. Thelda was also a character played by actress Greta Granstedt in the film There Goes My Heart (1938).
Thelma
Thelma Todd was an actress who appeared in films from the 1920s to the 1930s. She was born in Massachusetts in 1906. Thelma Salter was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1920s. She was born in California in 1908. Thelma was also a character name in multiple films, including A Modern Thelma (1916) and A Broadway Butterfly (1925).
In the video I pronounced Teala as “tee-AH-lah,” but I now think Teala Loring actually pronounced her name “TEE-lah.” Of course I didn’t find this out until after the video was created. :)
Tessibel appeared only once in the Social Security Administration’s baby name data, way back in 1917:
1919: unlisted
1918: unlisted
1917: 7 baby girls named Tessibel [debut]
1916: unlisted
1915: unlisted
For a better picture of what usage looked like around this time, though, let’s check out data from the Social Security Death Index:
1921: 2 people named Tessibel
1920: 1 people named Tessibel
1919: 2 people named Tessibel
1918: 2 people named Tessibel
1917: 6 people named Tessibel
1916: 3 people named Tessibel
1900-1915: zero people named Tessibel
So where did the name Tessibel come from in the 1910s, and why were there extra Tessibels in 1917?
The inspiration was fictional character Tessibel Skinner, invented by author Grace Miller White and first introduced in the 1909 book Tess of the Storm Country. A second book featuring Tess, The Secret of the Storm Country, came out in 1917.
The first book was made into four different films (in 1914, 1922, 1932, and 1960) and the second was made into a single film the same year it was published.
My guess is that the name got a nudge in 1917 thanks to the release of the new story, which was also serialized in the now-defunct magazine Woman’s World. The marketing for the movie — which featured popular actress Norma Talmadge (who went on to star in The Heart of Wetona and Smilin’ Through) — could have been a factor as well.
Do you like the name Tessibel? Do you think it’s a good alternative to names like Isabel and Annabel?
Here’s the next installment of rare female names collected from very old films (1910s, 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s).