# Tess (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/tess/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /tɛs/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 14,770 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 14,770 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 1,496, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from German Tess, a variant of Tesch.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 283 | 921 |
| 2012 | 255 | 993 |
| 2013 | 251 | 999 |
| 2014 | 235 | 1,090 |
| 2015 | 229 | 1,120 |
| 2016 | 217 | 1,163 |
| 2017 | 203 | 1,199 |
| 2018 | 176 | 1,298 |
| 2019 | 158 | 1,421 |
| 2020 | 175 | 1,281 |
| 2021 | 142 | 1,496 |
| 2022 | 107 | 1,897 |
| 2023 | 117 | 1,761 |
| 2024 | 115 | 1,768 |
| 2025 | 113 | 1,794 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 79 | 530 |
| 2012 | 67 | 624 |
| 2013 | 59 | 676 |
| 2014 | 51 | 763 |
| 2015 | 60 | 674 |
| 2016 | 49 | 790 |
| 2017 | 37 | 982 |
| 2018 | 32 | 1,083 |
| 2019 | 35 | 996 |
| 2020 | 24 | 1,313 |
| 2021 | 18 | 1,628 |
| 2022 | 15 | 1,849 |
| 2023 | 16 | 1,774 |
| 2024 | 9 | 2,771 |
| 2025 | 10 | 2,605 |

## People named Tess

- Tess Gerritsen, American novelist
- Tess Harper, American actress
- Tess Lieder, Dutch handball player
- Tess Ledeux, French freestyle skier
- Tess Coady, Australian snowboarder
- Tess Madgen, Australian basketball player (born 1990)
- Tess Daly, British television presenter
- Tess Johnson, American freestyle moguls skier (born 2000)
- Tess Haubrich, Australian actress and model
- Tess Holliday, American plus-size model
- Tess Gallagher, American writer (b. 1943)
- Tess Gaerthé, Dutch singer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.