How popular is the baby name Teresa in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Teresa.

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Popularity of the baby name Teresa


Posts that mention the name Teresa

What gave the baby name Tracy a boost in 1970?

The Cuff Links' album "Tracy" (1969)
The Cuff Links album

After rising for decades, the usage of Tracy (as a girl name) looked like it might plateau in the late 1960s. Instead, it rose steeply for two years in a row, reaching the girls’ top 10 for the first and only time in 1970:

Girls named TracyBoys named Tracy
197211,436 [rank: 19th]2,538 [rank: 111th]
197114,329 [rank: 13th]2,076 [rank: 144th]
197018,465† [rank: 10th]1,777 [rank: 162nd]
196915,108 [rank: 17th]2,169 [rank: 141st]
196812,742 [rank: 25th]2,655 [rank: 111th]
†Peak usage

Interestingly, when the female usage spiked, the male usage dipped. You can see both the spike and the corresponding dip on the name’s popularity graph:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Tracy in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Tracy

Several other spellings (Tracey, Traci, and Tracie) also saw peak usage in 1970.

So, what was drawing attention to the name Tracy in the late 1960s?

The bubblegum pop song “Tracy,” which was performed by The Cuff Links (a studio band) and released in July of 1969. It peaked at #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in late October.

Here’s what the song sounds like:

Another influence may have been the character Contessa Teresa “Tracy” di Vicenzo (played by actress Diana Rigg) from the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which was released in December of 1969. (Thank you to Sharky for letting me know about this character!)

What are your thoughts on the name Tracy?

P.S. Diana Rigg also played the part of Olenna Tyrell on Game of Thrones…

Sources: Tracy (The Cuff Links song) – Wikipedia, Billboard Hot 100 for the week of 25 Oct. 1969, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (film) – Wikipedia, SSA

What gave the baby name Cherylene a boost in 1946?

Cherylene Robison and her mother, Rona
Rona and Cherylene Robison

The baby name Cherylene saw peak usage in the U.S. in 1946:

  • 1948: 11 baby girls named Cherylene
  • 1947: 20 baby girls named Cherylene
  • 1946: 56 baby girls named Cherylene
  • 1945: unlisted
  • 1944: 7 baby girls named Cherylene

The name Cheryl was very trendy in the mid-1940s, and 1946 happened to be the first year of the post-war baby boom. But I think there’s a more specific reason for Cherylene’s impressive usage.

The reason?

A two-month-old Australian baby named Cherylene Robison, whose picture was published in a number of U.S. newspapers that January.

Doctors in Australia had determined that Cherylene needed life-saving cranial surgery. (Her fontanelle had not closed.)

So Cherylene and her mother, Rona, took a multi-leg “mercy flight” from Perth to Oakland (via Brisbane and Honolulu) courtesy of the U.S. military.

While they traveled east by plane, Cherylene’s father, American ex-serviceman Robert J. Robison, traveled west by train (from Kansas) to meet them.

Soon after the baby arrived, she was examined by doctors at the University of California Hospital in San Francisco. They concluded that she did not need an operation after all.

At the time of the 1950 U.S. Census, the Robison family was living together in San Mateo, California, and 4-year-old Cherylene had two younger siblings, Teresa and Reginald.

What are your thoughts on the name Cherylene?

P.S. Some of the 1960s usage of the name may have been influenced by child actress Cherylene Lee (b. 1953). She had a role in the 1963 John Wayne movie Donovan’s Reef, for instance.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Press Democrat (24 Jan. 1946)

Popular baby names in Gibraltar, 2023

Flag of Gibraltar
Flag of Gibraltar

The British overseas territory of Gibraltar — located at the southern tip of Europe’s Iberian Peninsula, just a few miles away from Northern Africa — is home to roughly 32,700 people

Last year, Gibraltar welcomed 319 babies — 149 baby girls, and 170 baby boys. (My source article said the final tally was 318, but the full list [PDF] included an extra name.)

What were the most popular names among these babies? Ava/Lucia (tie) and Luca.

Here are Gibraltar’s top girl names and top boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Ava and Lucia, 4 baby girls each (tie)
  2. Evie, Lily, Olivia, and Sienna, 3 each (4-way tie)
  3. Alba, Arabella, Brielle, Emma, Esme, Indie, Lena, Luna, Madison, Mia, Noa, Sofia, Sophia, Sophie, Talia, and Valentina, 2 each (16-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Luca, 5 baby boys
  2. Jack, Leon, and Liam, 4 each (3-way tie)
  3. James, Noah, Theo, and William, 3 each (4-way tie)
  4. Aiden, Alexander, Axel, Daniel, Dylan, Evan, Hugo, Jackson, Jake, Joey, Julian, Karim, Leo, Leonardo, Lucas, Matthew, Michael, Mohamed, Rafael, Robin, and Ryan, 2 each (21-way tie)

The rest of the names were each bestowed once. (Except for Reign, which was bestowed twice overall — once for each gender.)

Unique girl names (97)Unique boy names (99)
Aasiyah, Abigail, Adrianna, Alexandra, Alma, Amelia, Amiah, Anastasia, Anoushka, Anya, Aria, Arianna, Arianne, Arna, Avery, Bassma, Blossom, Carla, Charlotte, Chloe, Cole, Cora, Daisy, Daniella, Deborah, Devorah, Eadie, Eleanor, Elena, Eliana, Elie, Ella, Elodie, Elouisa, Elsie, Emilia, Emilie, Emily, Faith, Farah, Gia, Giselle, Grace, Gracie-Rae, Hallie, Hannah, Holly, Irene, Isabella, Isadora, Jawhara, Joudia, Julietta, Kaila, Kylie, Layan, Lia, Lilijana, Lilya, Lorena, Lucie, Lucy, Luella, Maram, Matilda, Maya, Mila, Miral, Molly, Niah, Niv, Nora, Nylah, Ottilie, Paige, Penelope, Reign, Rhea, Ria, Riley-Mae, Rina, Rivka, Ruth, Sabrina, Sage, Sara, Scarlett, Sia, Skye, Souhaila, Sydney, Tania, Teresa, Tillia, Vivienne, Yashu, ZainabAaron, Adonis, Alejandro, Alfei, Anthon, Aries, Ashton, August, Ayaan, Ayman, Brooke, Caleb, Charles, Christian, Cody, Colby, Cory, Elai, Eliyahu, Elliott, Eneko, Eoin, Etienne, Evren, Ezio, Finley, Frederick, Gino, Godred, Grayson, Harvey, Hayden, Hiyaan, Ilan, Indra, Jai, Jamie, Jayce, Jayme, Jesse, Johar, Joseph, Joshua, Jovan, Justin, Kai, Keenan, Kobe, Koen, Laurence, Lawson, Lee, Logan, Louay, Louie, Luke, Mael, Mason, Matteo, Max, Milan, Musa, Nasir, Nate, Nathan, Nathaniel, Nial, Nicholas, Nicolas, Nikolai, Nolan, Nyle, Oliver, Ori, Owen, Ramy, Raphael, Ray, Refael, Reign, Rex, Rian, Ricardo, River, Romeo, Roux, Ruben, Rylee, Salman, Sam, Samuel, Scott, Stefan, Theodore, Thiago, Yaakov, Yisroel, Zachary, Ziggy

Finally, here are Gibraltar’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Gibraltar (public domain)

Popular baby names in Mexico, 2021

Flag of Mexico
Flag of Mexico

Mexico, the 10th-most-populated country in the world, is located in the southern part of North America.

In 2021, Mexico welcomed 1,912,178 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Santiago.

Here are Mexico’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl names

  1. Sofia, 6,552 baby girls
  2. Maria Jose, 6,019
  3. Valentina, 5,671
  4. Regina, 5,556
  5. Camila, 5,255
  6. Valeria, 3,890
  7. Ximena, 3,794
  8. Maria Fernanda, 3,779
  9. Victoria, 3,622
  10. Renata, 3,495
  11. Romina, 3,447
  12. Isabella, 3,199
  13. Natalia, 3,036
  14. Daniela, 3,012
  15. Ana Sofia, 2,790
  16. Alexa, 2,528
  17. Fernanda, 2,515
  18. Maria Guadalupe, 2,468
  19. Samantha, 2,322
  20. Andrea, 2,275
  21. Aitana, 2,208
  22. Emily, 2,133
  23. Melissa, 2,107
  24. Guadalupe, 2,030
  25. Elizabeth, 2,002
  26. Mariana, 1,828
  27. Yamileth, 1,730 – a Latin American variant of the Arabic name Jamila
  28. Danna Sofia, 1,696
  29. Ana Victoria, 1,644
  30. Ana Paula, 1,620
  31. Alejandra, 1,581
  32. Fatima, 1,565
  33. Abigail, 1,560
  34. Julieta, 1,543
  35. Evelyn, 1,540
  36. Esmeralda, 1,407
  37. Luciana, 1,395
  38. Lucia, 1,299
  39. Estefania, 1,260
  40. Maria, 1,244
  41. Jimena, 1,227
  42. Vanessa, 1,215
  43. Ivanna, 1,201
  44. Dayana, 1,197
  45. Kimberly, 1,142
  46. Angela, 1,122
  47. Samara, 1,113
  48. Carolina, 1,102
  49. Emma, 1,098
  50. Miranda, 1,096

Boy names

  1. Santiago, 9,963 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 8,209
  3. Sebastian, 6,381
  4. Leonardo, 5,784
  5. Matias, 4,708
  6. Emiliano, 4,541
  7. Daniel, 4,133
  8. Gael, 4,024
  9. Miguel Angel, 4,019
  10. Diego, 4,014
  11. Alexander, 3,644
  12. Alejandro, 3,640
  13. Jesus, 3,179
  14. Angel, 2,928
  15. David, 2,866
  16. Tadeo, 2,795 – the Spanish form of Thaddeus
  17. Fernando, 2,676
  18. Luis Angel, 2,632
  19. Rodrigo, 2,533
  20. Jose Angel, 2,442
  21. Maximiliano, 2,411
  22. Jose Luis, 2,374
  23. Gabriel, 2,365
  24. Eduardo, 2,357
  25. Emmanuel, 2,344
  26. Dylan, 2,325
  27. Rafael, 2,142
  28. Juan Pablo, 2,080
  29. Samuel, 2,066
  30. Juan Carlos, 2,052
  31. Jose Manuel, 2,046
  32. Nicolas, 1,989
  33. Isaac, 1,972
  34. Leonel, 1,966
  35. Elias, 1,940
  36. Damian, 1,899
  37. Liam, 1,880
  38. Axel, 1,850
  39. Emilio, 1,822
  40. Ricardo, 1,778
  41. Adrian, 1,770
  42. Jose Miguel, 1,739
  43. Jonathan, 1,710
  44. Carlos, 1,689
  45. Antonio, 1,680
  46. Francisco, 1,678
  47. Javier, 1,675
  48. Alexis, 1,672
  49. Alan, 1,657
  50. Miguel, 1,636

The girls’ top 100 included Dulce Maria (51st), Aylin (58th), Itzayana (67th), and Lucero (93rd).

The boys’ top 100 included Juan (56th), Abraham (66th), Erick (83rd), and Brayan (87th).

Compound first names tend to be shortened for everyday use (e.g, “Juan Carlos” into “Juanca”), but few of these shortened forms have evolved into popular legal names, which I find surprising. I didn’t spot any examples on the boys’ side of the rankings, and only a handful — such as Mayte/Maite, short for María Teresa, and Maribel, short for María Isabel — on the girls’ side.

Finally, here are Mexico’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Natalidad – INEGI, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Mexico (public domain)