Teresa
Around 320,000 Polish women carry it, one of those names everyone knows several of. Yet it goes to only a small handful of newborns each year now: a name you meet across generations more than in the maternity ward. From the Greek for harvester or reaper.
Teresa Pronunciation
Teresa is pronounced te-RE-sah (/tɛˈrɛsa/).
What Teresa means
Where Teresa comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Teresa comes from Greek, though the exact root has been argued over for a long time. Most scholars trace it to theros, meaning summer or harvest, which gives the old reading of the harvester, żniwiarka in Polish. A second reading turns it toward the hunt, myśliwa, the woman who goes out after game. Both senses sit close to the land.
Teresa of Ávila, the sixteenth-century Spanish mystic and writer, carried the name far beyond Iberia, and her books are still read. That fame brought it into Poland centuries ago.
Polish keeps several forms in use. Tereza stands beside Teresa as a variant. Tereska is the warm diminutive a mother reaches for, and Renia does the same short, familiar work. On a school register you might find one Teresa and two girls who answer only to Tereska.
The name-day falls in October. Whatever the deep origin turns out to be, the harvest sense fits that month, and żniwiarka stays the plain Polish gloss.
When Teresa celebrates name day
Teresa appears 13 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 3 March.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
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in 143 days7 MarchSunday in 2027
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in 147 days11 MarchThursday in 2027
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in 179 days12 AprilMonday in 2027
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in 235 days7 JuneMonday in 2027
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in 255 days27 JuneSunday in 2027
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in 264 days6 JulyTuesday in 2027
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in 298 days9 AugustMonday in 2027
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in 315 days26 AugustThursday in 2027
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in 346 days26 SeptemberSunday in 2027
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in 351 days1 OctoberFriday in 2027
How many people are named Teresa
1 in 70 women in Poland is named Teresa. 319,921 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #31 among female names.
Teresa's popularity over time
86 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #268 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2003. Still the #31 name among living women, even as it slips to #268 among newborns.
Where parents choose Teresa
Teresa is most popular in Greater Poland, 63% above the national average (93 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Kuyavian-Pomeranian (+48%) and Pomeranian (+30%). It is least common in Warmian-Masurian and Subcarpathian, 90% and 72% below average respectively.
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Greater Poland
+63%1 in 2,314 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
+48%1 in 2,544 babies
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Pomeranian
+30%1 in 2,889 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−90%1 in 35,897 babies
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Subcarpathian
−72%1 in 13,396 babies
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Lublin
−63%1 in 10,268 babies
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Greater Poland+63% 93 born1 in 2,314 babies+63%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian+48% 43 born1 in 2,544 babies+48%
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Pomeranian+30% 51 born1 in 2,889 babies+30%
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Masovian+26% 119 born1 in 2,977 babies+26%
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Lower Silesian+25% 52 born1 in 3,022 babies+25%
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Lesser Poland+14% 69 born1 in 3,289 babies+14%
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Opole−2% 12 born1 in 3,841 babies−2%
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Silesian−7% 56 born1 in 4,064 babies−7%
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Lubusz−17% 11 born1 in 4,514 babies−17%
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Podlaskie−37% 11 born1 in 5,981 babies−37%
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Świętokrzyskie−39% 9 born1 in 6,159 babies−39%
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Łódź−49% 17 born1 in 7,454 babies−49%
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West Pomeranian−55% 10 born1 in 8,443 babies−55%
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Lublin−63% 10 born1 in 10,268 babies−63%
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Subcarpathian−72% 9 born1 in 13,396 babies−72%
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Warmian-Masurian−90% 2 born1 in 35,897 babies−90%
Teresa as a middle name
Teresa is a first name for 319,921 women in Poland and a middle name for another 354,803, a 47/53 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 6th, between Ewa (372,483) and Małgorzata (332,804).
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#4 Barbara403,010
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#5 Ewa372,483
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#6 Teresa354,803
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#7 Małgorzata332,804
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#8 Elżbieta312,408