She’s a saintly classic, rich in nickname options but not often heard today.

Thanks to Rocking Fetal for suggesting Therese as Baby Name of the Day.

Teresa reached the US Top 20 in the early 1960s.  A few decades earlier, Theresa had been more popular.  Today both have faded.  The streamlined Teresa ranked #654 in 2009, while the h-spelling came in at a distant #947.

Therese has always been less common than either of her ends-in-a sisters, but a popular saint encouraged her use.

Thérèse of Lisieux was born in 1873.  The daughter of a lacemaker – who had once considered the cloistered life herself – Thérèse was born in France, became a nun at 15 and died just nine years later.  Her memoir was published a year after her death.  The Story of a Soul was a simple account of her life, emphasizing small choices in daily living:

Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.

Thérèse took the express route to canonization in 1925.  The Bascilia of St. Thérèse in Lisieux is a popular pilgrimage site.  She’s influenced everyone from Mother Teresa – who took her name in honor of St. Thérèse – to actress Louise Brooks to Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project.

When Thérèse was canonized, her given name entered the US Top 250 briefly.  The name was nearly as popular in the 1950s, when Bishop Fulton Sheen’s television show, Life is Worth Living, became a surprise hit.  The Bishop was a fan of the saint, eventually releasing a compilation of the many sermons he delivered based on her life.

All of this lends the name a very français, rather sacred feel.

Even the name’s roots are religious.  The fourth century Saint Paulinus of Nola was born a wealthy Roman citizen.  His wife was Therasia.  Her name may’ve come from the Greek word for harvest, or possibly from the name of a Greek island.  Others suggest it could relate to the word theros – summer.  Most bearers of the name were Spanish until sixteenth-century Saint Teresa of Ávila’s popularity propelled the name into wider use.

In the US, the biggest hurdle to using Therese might be pronunciation.  I’ve come across teh REES and tay REHZ, as well as tay REES.  The middle one is most faithful to the French, but the spelling has been in widespread use in Germany and Scandinavia, too.

She has nicknames aplenty, and several of  those stand on their own, too, including:

• Terri (and Teri) in the 1950s and 60s;
• Tracy (and Tracey, Traci and Tracie) in the 1960s and 70s;
• Tessa (and Tess) in recent years.

Adding in all of the names variants produces a vast list of notables and uses.  Two that are specific to Thérèse – and refreshingly non-religious – are:

• Jules Massenet’s 1907 opera set during the French Revolution.  His Thérèse is torn between two men she loves.  The ending is appropriately dramatic;
• Émile Zola’s unhappy heroine Thérèse Raquin was the title character in an 1867 novel.

History also gives us a handful of nobles, a nineteenth-century German opera singer and the villainous Madame Defarge in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

Call her a classic in hibernation.  She’s slightly out of step with current trends but with her long history of use, Therese remains an intriguing option.