Tessa

Did you know?

A few things about Tessa you might not know, from US birth records and Wikipedia. Handy for convincing a partner, or a grandparent.

⭐ Famous Tessa

Tessa Thompson

American actress

Choose Tessa and your child shares a first name with Tessa Thompson, an American actress. A ready-made answer when someone asks “Tessa, like who?” Tessa Thompson's Wikipedia article is available in 58 languages, a good sign of just how widely known they are.

Read about Tessa Thompson on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Sara Komatsu, CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

• 👶How commonAbout 1 in every 1,643 baby girls born in the US in 2025 was named Tessa, 978 babies in all. In a typical school of 500 kids, your Tessa would very likely be the only one.
• 📜HistoryTessa first shows up in US birth records in 1891, the first year at least 5 babies got it. It has been in use for 134 years since.
• 🏆Best yearIts best year was 2007, when it reached #190.
• 🍂TrendTessa has slipped 31 places over the last five years and now sits at #311. Good news if you want a familiar name that fewer kids will share.
• 📍Where it's lovedTessa is most popular in Connecticut, where it ranks #130, followed by Alaska (#134) and Massachusetts (#149). It makes the top 1,000 in almost every state.

About the name Tessa

Tessa is a girl name. It has 5 letters and 2 syllables, starting with T and ending in “-ssa”. US birth records list Tessa for girls from 1891 to 2025, in 101 of those 135 years. Its best year was 2007, when it ranked #190 among girl names. In 2025 it ranked #311, with 978 babies.