Theda vs Therese
American parents have registered 35,595 Thereses since 1880, against 6,556 Thedas. Therese is still ahead, with 79 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Theda Therese
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Therese for 137 years and Theda for 9 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.
Side by side
| Theda | Therese | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 6,556 | 35,595 |
| Most in one year | 356 | 1,211 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 79 |
| Estimated living today | 1,700 | 23,000 |
| Median age today | 73 | 64 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1959 |
| Best rank | 337th girls | 252nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 2,298th |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 6,556 / 0 | 35,590 / 5 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Thedas alive today are over 73; half the Thereses are over 64. That is 9 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Theda Oklahoma (6.4×), Arkansas (4.3×), Kansas (3.4×)
- Therese Rhode Island (6.6×), Maine (5.1×), New Hampshire (5.0×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Theda and Therese.