How popular is the baby name Tessa 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 Tessa.

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Popularity of the baby name Tessa


Posts that mention the name Tessa

What turned Bonanza into a baby name in 1960?

Title of the TV western "Bonanza" (1959-1973)

In mining, a bonanza (“prosperity” in Spanish) refers to a rich vein of ore. The word sometimes refers specifically to the Comstock Lode — a lode of silver ore discovered in western Utah Territory in 1859.

This “Comstock Lode” definition is where the TV western Bonanza got its name, as the show was set in the same place and time period (Utah Territory in the 1860s).

The series focused on the Cartwright family — father Ben and sons Adam, Eric, and Joseph — who lived on a ranch near the Virginia City (located in what is now the state of Nevada).

Bonanza started airing in 1959, and, one year later, enough baby boys in the U.S. were named Bonanza for the name to debut in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1962: unlisted
  • 1961: unlisted
  • 1960: 7 baby boys named Bonanza [debut]
  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted

Though Bonanza (1959-1973) was one of the longest-running westerns on television, that was the first and only time the name appeared in the data.

The series did have a strong influence on several other names, though.

Lorne Greene

One of those names is Lorne. Canadian actor Lorne Green played the show’s thrice-widowed patriarch, Ben Cartwright. Here’s what happened to the usage of the baby name Lorne during the early years of the show:

  • 1962: 171 baby boys named Lorne [rank: 595th]
  • 1961: 92 baby boys named Lorne [rank: 795th]
  • 1960: 49 baby boys named Lorne
  • 1959: 24 baby boys named Lorne
  • 1958: 25 baby boys named Lorne
Pernell Roberts

Another is Pernell. Actor Pernell Roberts played the eldest Cartwright son, Adam. Here’s how the usage of the name Pernell was affected:

  • 1962: 128 baby boys named Pernell [rank: 687th]
  • 1961: 68 baby boys named Pernell [rank: 930th]
  • 1960: 37 baby boys named Pernell
  • 1959: 23 baby boys named Pernell
  • 1958: 13 baby boys named Pernell

Both Lorne and Pernell entered the top 1,000 for the first time in 1961.

Later on in the series, there’s Jamie. Teenage orphan Jamie Hunter (played by Mitch Vogel) was introduced as a new character in mid-1970. He was adopted by Ben Cartwright during an episode that aired at the end of the next year.

Male usage of the name Jamie increased enough in 1971 that the name was boosted into the boys’ top 100 for the first time. (It remained there throughout the 1970s.)

  • 1972: 3,679 baby boys named Jamie [rank: 72nd]
  • 1971: 3,233 baby boys named Jamie [rank: 96th]
  • 1970: 2,642 baby boys named Jamie [rank: 125th]
  • 1969: 1,567 baby boys named Jamie [rank: 179th]
  • 1968: 1,224 baby boys named Jamie [rank: 193rd]

Have you ever watched Bonanza? Are there any other notable names I might be missing here? Please leave a comment!

Update, 5/31/2015: Usage of the baby name Tessa more than tripled from 1963 to 1964. Looks like the jump was caused by an episode of Bonanza called “Bullet for a Bride” (Feb. 1964) which featured a character named Tessa Caldwell.

Update, 3/17/2018: The name Petina debuted in 1965 thanks to a single-episode Bonanza character named Petina, an aerialist who appeared in “The Deadliest Game” (Feb. 1965).

Sources: Bonanza – Wikipedia, SSA

Where did the baby name Tessalee come from in 2007?

The book "Firefly Cloak" (2006) by Sheri Reynolds
The book “Firefly Cloak“

The compound name Tessalee is so rare that it has only appeared in the U.S. baby name data once, in 2007:

  • 2009: unlisted
  • 2008: unlisted
  • 2007: 6 baby girls named Tessalee [debut]
  • 2006: unlisted
  • 2005: unlisted

What put it there?

My best guess is the 2006 coming-of-age novel The Firefly Cloak by American author Sheri Reynolds. The book features a main character named Tessa Lee:

When 8-year old Tessa Lee and her brother, Travis, are abandoned in a campground by their desperate mother and her boyfriend of the moment, their mother leaves them only two things: a phone number printed in Magic Marker on Travis’s back and her favorite housecoat, printed with tiny fireflies, that she places over her sleeping children.

I’m not sure how well the novel sold, but one of Reynolds’ earlier novels, The Rapture of Canaan (1995), became an Oprah‘s Book Club selection in 1997, and consequently both a New York Times bestseller and a Publishers Weekly bestseller. So her later books certainly would have been on readers’ radars.

That said…the name Tessa also happened to see a boost in usage in 2007. In fact, that was the year Tessa saw peak usage overall. So whatever was influencing Tessa (actress Tessa Thompson perhaps?) may have been influencing Tessalee as well.

What do you think of the name Tessalee? Would you use it as a single name, or do you prefer “Tessa Lee” as a first/middle combo?

Sources:

Baby names you can type with one hand: Carter, Tessa, John, Poppy

computer keyboard

When you sign your first name, you use one hand. But when you type it, chances are you need to use both hands — even if your name is a short as Emma, Gus or Ty.

Have you ever wondered which names can be touch-typed on the standard QWERTY keyboard with one hand only? Me too, so I came up with some lists…

Left-handed baby names

  • Ace, Ada, Adar, Adeva, Aeta, Afra, Agra, Aqsa, Ara, Arda, Ardra, Artra, Asa, Asees, Astra, Astraea, Astrea, Atef, Ava, Awa, Aza, Azeeza, Azza
  • Babette, Barbara, Barrett, Baxter, Bess, Bette, Brad, Brett
  • Cade, Caesar, Cara, Carter, Casara, Case, Cass, Castara, Cedar, Ceres, Cesar, Cresta
  • Dara, Dart, Dasza, Dave, Dawes, Dax, Deatra, Debra, Dee, Dessa, Devara, Dexter, Drew
  • Ece, Ed, Edgar, Edward, Eevee, Efe, Egas, Erva, Esta, Estes, Etta, Eva, Evart, Eve, Everard, Everett, Evette, Ewart, Eze, Ezra
  • Faraz, Fedde, Fraser, Frazer, Freeda, Fred, Fredda
  • Gage, Garret, Garrett, Gerard, Grace, Greg, Greta, Grete, Gretta
  • Rafer, Rasa, Rava, Rebeca, Rebecca, Reece, Reed, Reese, Retta, Reva, Rever, Rewa, Rex
  • Sabra, Sada, Sadaf, Sade, Safaa, Sagar, Sage, Sara, Saras, Sardar, Sava, Savva, Sea, Stassa, Steve, Stewart, Svea, Sverre, Sveva
  • Tad, Tage, Taggart, Tara, Tate, Ted, Tera, Teresa, Terrea, Tess, Tessa, Tex, Trace, Tracee, Trava
  • Vada, Varda, Varvara, Vera, Verree, Vesta, Vester
  • Wade, Wafa, Ward, Warre, Wes
  • Xerra, Xerxes
  • Zada, Zara, Zed, Zedd, Zera

How funny is it that Dexter, which comes directly from the Latin word for “right,” is typed with the left hand only?

Right-handed baby names

  • Hoku, Holli, Holly
  • Io, Ioli
  • Jill, Ji-Min, Jim, Jimi, Jimmy, Jin, Jo, John, Johnny, Jon, Joni, Joy, Juho, Juli, Julio, Jun, Juni, Juno
  • Kiki, Kiko, Kilik, Kim, Kimi, Kimiko, Kimmy, Kimo, Kin, Kip, Kipp, Kippy, Kiyoko, Kiyomi, Kojo, Kollin, Kumiko, Kuno, Kuuipo, Kyou
  • Lili, Lilikoi, Lilio, Lilly, Lilou, Lily, Lin, Lino, Loki, Loni, Lonny, Lou, Lulu, Lumi, Lyn, Lynn
  • Miki, Mikki, Mikko, Milly, Milo, Mimi, Min, Minh, Minokimin, Miyu, Molly, Momoko
  • Nik, Nikhil, Niki, Nikki, Niko, Nikol, Nikon, Nikunj, Niilo, Ninon, Nipin, Nolon, Nuno
  • Olli, Olujimi, Om, Onno
  • Phil, Philip, Phillip, Philo, Pio, Pliny, Plum, Pol, Polly, Pono, Poppy
  • Umiko, Ummul, Umu, Union
  • Yoko, Yuko, Yumi, Yumiko

I realize that QWERTY “handedness” is not a major baby-naming factor for most people, but I do think it would be cute to pair a one-handed name with another one-handed name — maybe a surname (Teresa Garza, Phillip Hill) or a twin name (Edward & John, Grace & Lily, Zara & Milo). What do you think?

Image: Adapted from Apple Macintosh Plus Extended Keyboard by MagicTom13 under CC BY-SA 3.0.