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.

Translations

female given name — see Teresa

Anagrams

• the arse, ash tree, sethera, Heaters, Ashtree, heaters, hearest, Easther, reheats, seareth, aethers, heartes, æthers, eraseth

German

Alternative forms

• Teresa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teˈʁeːza/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: The‧re‧sa

Proper noun

Theresa

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Theresa

Related terms

• variants: Theres, Therese, Theresia, Marie-Theres, Marie-Therese