Theresa

English

Etymology

First used in Spain, supposedly derived from Latin Thēra, from Ancient Greek Θήρᾱ (Thḗrā), name of a city in Santorini, Greece.

Proper noun

Theresa

  1. A female given name from Ancient Greek, variant of Teresa.
    • 1810, Tales of real life: forming a sequel to miss Edgeworth's Tales of fashionable life, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, page 72:
      "Theresa!" exclaimed the stranger, "is your name Theresa?" asked she, a death-like paleness at the same time overspreading her countenance.
      "Is this name so frightful to you?" enquired the recluse.
      "Frightful!" rejoined the stranger, "O, no, I venerate it, like the name of a saint. I had once an unknown friend, whose name was Theresa.
    • 1976, Anne Tyler, Searching for Caleb, Berkley Books, New York, published 1983, →ISBN, page 7:
      "Theresa,", he said. "I never cared for that name."
      Justine nodded, chewing.
      "I don't like difficult names. I don't like foreignness."
      "Perhaps they're Catholic," Justine said.
    • 2021 January 9, Sandee LaMotte, “Valuing male dominance may predict support for Trump, study says”, in CNN[1]:
      “What this work shows is that masculinity is not just an ideology that men strive to achieve. It’s something we value as a culture,” said lead author Theresa Vescio, a professor of psychology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Pennsylvania State University.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

German

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /teˈʁeːza/
  • Audio (Austria):(file)
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)
  • Hyphenation: The‧re‧sa

Proper noun

Theresa

  1. a female given name, equivalent to English Theresa