Date
Gender Feminine
Usage Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Polish, Lithuanian, Finnish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English
Pronounced Pron. /te.ˈɾe.sa/(Spanish) /te.ˈrɛː.za/(Italian) /tə.ˈɾɛ.zə/(Catalan) /tɛ.ˈrɛ.sa/(Polish) /tʲɛ.rʲɛ.ˈsɐ/(Lithuanian) /ˈte.re.sɑ/(Finnish) /te.ˈʁeː.za/(German) /tə.ˈɹiː.sə/(English) /tə.ˈɹiː.zə/(English)
Meaning & History
Form of Theresa used in several languages. Saint Teresa of Ávila was a 16th-century Spanish nun who reformed the Carmelite monasteries and wrote several spiritual books. It was also borne by the Albanian missionary Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), better known as Mother Teresa, who worked with the poor in India. She adopted the name in honour of the French saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who is the patron of missionaries.