Girl Names That Start With T: 147 Ideas

Girl names that start with T run from favorites like Thea, Theodora, Talia and Tessa to rare picks like Theodosia, Tacita and Thekla, and this list of 147 gives a checked origin and meaning for every one.

T is a crisp, versatile letter for naming a daughter. It holds Greek classics, saints’ names, Puritan virtue names, Welsh and Hebrew favorites, and names from Japanese, Zulu, Arabic and many other languages. No T name made the U.S. girls’ top 10 for 2025, according to the Social Security Administration, so even the familiar picks still feel a little distinctive.

We grouped the T girl names by style: classic, unique, short, long, vintage, nature, mythology, biblical, international and gender neutral. Then come the two sounds of Th, nicknames, sibling and middle name ideas, and a quick initials check.

Key Takeaways

No T name is in the SSA girls’ top 10 for 2025; Theodore, the root of Theodora and Thea, is No. 4 for boys.
Familiar T names for girls include Thea, Theodora, Talia, Tessa, Teresa, Tabitha, Tatiana and Tamara.
Rare options include Theodosia, Tacita, Thekla, Talulla, Tertia and Theophania.
Th is said two ways: like think in Thea and Thalia, but like a plain T in Theresa and Thomasina.
Test your favorite with the initials, say it out loud, spelling and nickname checks before you decide.

Table of Contents

Girl Names That Start With T at a Glance

Quick Answer

Standout T names for girls: Thea, Theodora, Talia, Tessa, Teresa, Tabitha, Tatiana and Tamara (familiar and classic); Theodosia, Tacita, Thekla and Talulla (rare); Tali, Tova, Tove and Thu (short); Tansy, Tsubaki and Tindra (nature). No T name is in the U.S. girls’ top 10 for 2025, but Theodore, the root of Theodora, is No. 4 for boys.

Every origin and meaning here was checked against the name’s entry on Behind the Name in October 2026. Where the reference calls a meaning unknown, uncertain or debated, we say so.

Start with the best known baby girl names that start with T. For ideas beyond one letter, see our main list of baby girl names, or compare with girl names that start with S and girl names that start with R.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Thea	German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, English	Short form of Dorothea, Theodora, Theresa and other names with a similar sound
Theodora	English, Greek, Ancient Greek	Feminine form of Theodore, from Greek for “gift of god”; borne by several Byzantine empresses, including the wife of Justinian
Talia	Hebrew	“Dew from God” in Hebrew
Tessa	English, Dutch	Contracted form of Theresa
Teresa	Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, English and many more	Form of Theresa used in several languages; Saint Teresa of Ávila was a 16th-century Spanish nun and reformer
Theresa	English, German	From Spanish and Portuguese Teresa; the meaning is uncertain, possibly from Greek theros, “summer”, or therizo, “to harvest”, or from the Greek island of Therasia
Tabitha	English, biblical	“Gazelle” in Aramaic; a woman restored to life by Saint Peter in the New Testament
Tatiana	Italian, Spanish, Russian, English and many more	Feminine form of the Roman name Tatianus, from the family name Tatius (of unknown meaning); a 3rd-century saint
Tiana	English	Short form of Tatiana or Christiana; the princess in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Tara	English	Anglicized form of the Irish place name Teamhair, possibly “elevated place”: the sacred hill where the Irish high kings resided
Tamara	Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, English, Spanish and more	Russian form of Tamar: “date palm” in Hebrew
Tiffany	English	Medieval form of Theophania, the feminine form of Theophanes (“manifestation of God”); traditionally given to girls born on the Epiphany
Trinity	English	From the English word, for the Christian belief in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; a given name since the 20th century
Tallulah	English (rare)	The name of waterfalls in Georgia; popularly said to mean “leaping waters” in Choctaw, it may actually mean “town” in Creek
Thalia	Greek mythology (Latinized), Greek	From Greek thallo, “to blossom”; the Muse of comedy and pastoral poetry, and one of the three Graces
Tess	English, Dutch	Short form of Theresa; the heroine of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)
Tilly	English	Diminutive of Matilda, a Germanic name meaning “strength in battle”
Tia	English	Short form of names ending with tia
Tina	English, Italian, Dutch, Scandinavian and more	Short form of Christina, Martina and other names ending in tina
Tanya	Russian, Bulgarian, English	Russian diminutive of Tatiana; used in English since the 1930s
Teagan	English (modern)	Variant of Tegan; also a rare Irish surname

Familiar and classic T girl names with origins and meanings.

None of these names is in the Social Security Administration (SSA) top 10 for girls born in 2025. The closest link to the top of the charts is Theodore, No. 4 for boys: Theodora is its feminine form, and Thea is a short form of Theodora. If you like the sound of Theodore for a daughter, those two are the natural route.

The SSA also does not combine different spellings. Its own example is Caitlin, Caitlyn and Kaitlin, which are ranked as separate names, and the same goes for T pairs such as Tiana and Tianna or Tabitha and Tabatha.

Two old names sit behind a large share of this letter. If you like one member of a family, the others are worth a look:

The Theresa family: Theresa, Teresa, Tessa, Tess, Tessie, Teri, Terri, Teresita, Theresia, Therese, Tereza and Treasa (in one of its two senses). Behind the Name calls the root meaning uncertain: possibly Greek for “summer” or “to harvest”, or the name of the island of Therasia.
The Theodore family: Theodora, Teodora, Thea and Theda all lead back to Greek Theodoros, “gift of god”. Theodosia, Theophania, Thekla and Teofila are cousins built on the same Greek word theos, “god”.

Unique and Rare Girl Names That Start With T

Looking for unique girl names that start with T? These are uncommon in the United States, and Behind the Name marks several as rare in English or as ancient names that have mostly dropped out of use. Most are still easy to say and spell.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Tamsin	English (British)	Contracted form of Thomasina, traditionally used in Cornwall
Tacita	Ancient Roman	Feminine form of Tacitus, a Roman name meaning “silent, mute” in Latin
Theodosia	Ancient Greek, Greek	Feminine form of Theodosius: “giving to god” in Greek
Thomasina	English	Medieval feminine form of Thomas, from an Aramaic name meaning “twin”
Timothea	Ancient Greek, Greek	Feminine form of Timothy: “honoring God” in Greek
Theophania	Ancient Greek	Feminine form of Theophanes: “manifestation of God” in Greek
Tenley	English (modern)	From an English surname, possibly from a place name meaning “point” plus “woodland, clearing” in Old English
Treasure	English (modern)	From the English word, ultimately from Greek thesauros, “treasure, collection”
Tiara	English (modern)	From the English word for a semicircle crown, ultimately of Greek origin
Tuesday	English (rare)	From the day of the week: Old English tiwesdæg, “Tiw’s day”
Tullia	Italian, Ancient Roman	Feminine form of Tullius, a Roman family name from the praenomen Tullus, of unknown meaning
Tertia	Ancient Roman	Feminine form of Tertius, also used as a Roman given name
Thekla	German (rare), Greek (rare), Late Greek	From Theokleia: “glory of God” in Greek; a 1st-century saint
Talulla	Irish (rare)	Anglicized form of an Old Irish name probably from tuile, “abundance”, and flaith, “ruler, sovereign, princess”; an early abbess of Kildare

Unique and rare T names for girls.

Theodosia, Timothea and Theophania are feminine forms of Greek men’s names that most people already know as Theodosius, Timothy and Theophanes, which gives them a familiar ring despite their rarity. Tiffany is in fact the medieval form of Theophania, so the two make a fun pair of old and newer forms.

To see where a name stands, use the Popularity of a Name search on the SSA baby names page. The SSA leaves names with fewer than 5 occurrences out of its lists to protect privacy, so the very rarest names will not show up at all. More ideas: our unique girl names guide.

Short T Names for Girls (3 to 4 Letters)

Short T names are quick to spell and pair well with a long surname. Several are Scandinavian, Hebrew or East Asian names that are short to begin with, and a few started as pet forms of longer English names.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Tali	Hebrew	“My dew” in Hebrew
Tova	Hebrew	“Good” in Hebrew
Tove	Norwegian, Danish, Swedish	Modern form of the Old Norse name Tófa, a short form of Þórfríðr
Tuva	Swedish, Norwegian	Swedish and Norwegian variant of Tove
Teri	English	A feminine variant of Terry or a diminutive of Theresa
Tori	English	Diminutive of Victoria, “victory” in Latin
Tami	English	Variant of Tammy
Toni	English	Short form of Antonia and other related names
Thu	Vietnamese	“Autumn”, from Sino-Vietnamese
Tyra	Swedish, English, African American	From the Old Norse name Þýri; in English it is probably also seen as a feminine form of Tyrone or Tyree
Thora	Norwegian, Danish	Modern form of Þóra
Ting	Chinese	“Pretty, graceful”, from one common character; other characters are possible

Short girl names starting with T.

Tali and Tova are full names in Hebrew, meaning “my dew” and “good”, not nicknames. Tove and Tuva are a Scandinavian pair, with Tuva listed as a variant of Tove. Short T names also turn up in other tables on this page: Thea, Tess, Tia, Tina, Thu, Tal, Tam, Tai and True. For more, see our short girl names list.

Long, Elegant and Vintage T Names

Longer T names bring built-in nicknames and a formal option for later in life. Several are the Italian, Spanish or Slavic forms of names you already know.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Temperance	English	From the English word for “moderation” or “restraint”; a Puritan virtue name of the 17th century
Teodora	Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian and more	Feminine form of Theodoros (Theodore): “gift of god”
Tiziana	Italian	Feminine form of Tiziano, from the Roman cognomen Titianus
Teresita	Spanish	Spanish diminutive of Teresa, most common in the Philippines and Latin America
Theresia	German, Dutch	German and Dutch form of Theresa
Tatyana	Russian, Bulgarian	Russian and Bulgarian form of Tatiana
Teofila	Italian (rare), Polish (rare)	Feminine form of Theophilus: “friend of god” in Greek
Tuathflaith	Old Irish	From Old Irish túath, “people, country”, and flaith, “ruler, sovereign, princess”

Long and elegant T girl names.

These vintage picks feel familiar from older generations, and many started as nicknames of longer names. Thelma is a good example of a name whose meaning is honestly unknown: Behind the Name says it was rare until a novel used it in 1887, and calls the popular link to a Greek word unlikely. Tamika and Tanisha are both modern American creations with documented starting points.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Thelma	English	Meaning unknown; made popular by Marie Corelli’s novel Thelma (1887). The claimed link to Greek thelema, “will”, seems unlikely
Trudy	English, Dutch	Diminutive of Gertrude: “spear of strength” in Old German
Tillie	English	Diminutive of Matilda
Tessie	English	Diminutive of Theresa
Theda	German	Short form of Theodora; borne by the actress Theda Bara
Tabby	English	Diminutive of Tabitha
Tammy	English	Short form of Tamara and other names beginning with Tam
Tonya	English, Russian	English diminutive of Antonia, or a Russian diminutive of Antonina
Tricia	English	Short form of Patricia
Terri	English	A feminine variant of Terry or a diminutive of Theresa
Trixie	English	Diminutive of Beatrix, probably from Viatrix: “voyager, traveler” in Latin
Tilda	English, Swedish, Finnish	Short form of Matilda
Trina	English	Short form of Katrina
Taryn	English	Probably a feminine form of Tyrone; created by the actors Tyrone Power and Linda Christian for their daughter
Tamika	English	Variant of Tamiko, inspired by the jazz singer Tamiko Jones or the movie A Girl Named Tamiko (1963)
Tanisha	African American	Popularized by the actress Ta-Tanisha, who apparently took the stage name from Swahili tatanisha, “puzzle, tangle, confuse”

Vintage T names for girls.

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Nature T Names: Flowers, Trees, Wind and Stars

Many pretty girl names that start with T come from the natural world, and they come from many languages: Tahitian, Japanese, Finnish, Swedish, Arabic and English. For more, see our flower names list.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Tansy	English (rare)	From the name of the flower, via Old French from Late Latin tanacita
Tiare	Tahitian	“Flower” in Tahitian, also specifically the Tahitian gardenia
Tsubaki	Japanese	“Camellia (flower)”, among other kanji spellings with the same sound
Taimi	Finnish, Estonian	“Sapling, young tree” in Finnish, or “plant” in Estonian
Tuuli	Finnish, Estonian	“Wind” in Finnish and Estonian
Tempest	English (rare)	From the English word for “storm”; the title of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest (1611)
Terra	English	Variant of Tara, perhaps influenced by Latin terra, “land, earth”
Tierra	Various	“Earth” in Spanish
Topaz	English (rare)	The yellow gemstone, the traditional birthstone of November; from Greek topazos
Tawny	English (modern)	From the English word, from Old French tané, “light brown”
Tindra	Swedish (modern)	“To twinkle, to sparkle” in Swedish
Thurayya	Arabic	“The Pleiades” in Arabic, a group of stars in the constellation Taurus
Tsukiko	Japanese	“Moon” plus “child”; other kanji combinations are possible

Nature inspired T names for girls.

Two of these look up at the night sky. Thurayya is the Arabic name for the Pleiades star cluster, and Tsukiko joins the Japanese word for moon with the word for child. Tindra, a modern Swedish name, means to twinkle or sparkle.

Thalia from the first table belongs here in spirit too, since its Greek root means “to blossom”, and Tamar (date palm) is a tree name as well as a biblical one.

Mythology, Literature and Biblical T Names

Greek myth supplies most of these, with Titans, Muses, a Nereid and one of the Pleiades. They are joined by a Phoenician goddess, a Finnish forest goddess, a Persian epic heroine and a Shakespeare fairy queen. For Tanith, the reference gives no known meaning.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Theia	Greek mythology	Possibly from Greek thea, “goddess”; a Titan goddess of light, mother of Helios, Selene and Eos
Themis	Greek mythology	“Law of nature, divine law, custom” in Greek; the Titan of custom and natural law
Thetis	Greek mythology	Possibly from Greek thetes, “one who places”; a Nereid, the mother of Achilles
Tethys	Greek mythology	From Greek tethe, “grandmother”; a Titan associated with the sea, wife of Oceanus
Taygete	Greek mythology	From Mount Taygetos near Sparta, probably of pre-Greek origin; one of the Pleiades
Terpsichore	Greek mythology	“Enjoying the dance” in Greek; the Muse of dance and dramatic chorus
Theano	Ancient Greek, Greek mythology, Greek	From Greek thea, “goddess”; a 6th-century BC philosopher associated with Pythagoras
Thisbe	Greek and Roman mythology	From an ancient Greek town in Boeotia; the tragic heroine of a legend told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Titania	Literature	Perhaps from Latin Titanius, “of the Titans”; Shakespeare’s queen of the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595), and a moon of Uranus
Tanith	Semitic mythology	Meaning unknown; a Phoenician goddess of love, fertility, the moon and the stars, linked with Carthage
Tuulikki	Finnish, Finnish mythology	“Little wind” in Finnish; a Finnish forest goddess, daughter of Tapio
Tahmina	Persian mythology, Tajik, Bengali	From Persian tahm, “brave, valiant”; a character in the 10th-century Persian epic the Shahnameh

T names from mythology and literature.

A note on Thisbe: in the old legend her story ends in tragedy, as Ovid tells it. Some parents love the literary weight of a name like that, and others would rather skip it. Titania, by contrast, comes from a comedy.

Biblical girl names that start with T include Tabitha from the first table, a woman Saint Peter restored to life in the Book of Acts. The table below adds Old and New Testament names, plus two modern Hebrew names. For a wider list, see our biblical girl names.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Tamar	Hebrew, Georgian, biblical	“Date palm” in Hebrew; two women in the Old Testament, and a 12th-century ruling queen of Georgia
Tirzah	Biblical	From Hebrew Tirtsa: “favorable”; one of the daughters of Zelophehad in the Old Testament
Talitha	Biblical	“Little girl” in Aramaic, from the words spoken by Jesus in Mark 5:41
Tryphena	Biblical	From Greek tryphe: “softness, delicacy”; mentioned briefly in the New Testament
Tryphosa	Biblical, Biblical Greek, Ancient Greek	From Greek tryphe: “softness, delicacy”; a companion of Tryphena in the New Testament
Tzipora	Hebrew	Modern Hebrew form of Zipporah: “bird” in Hebrew; the wife of Moses in the Old Testament
Tehila	Hebrew	“Praise” in Hebrew

Biblical T names for girls and names with biblical ties.

Some biblical T stories are hard ones. Behind the Name notes that one of the two Old Testament women named Tamar was assaulted by her half-brother. The name is still widely used, especially in Hebrew and Georgian, and Georgia’s medieval Queen Tamar is a famous bearer.

International T Names by Language

Origins below use the reference’s own usage labels. Many European T names are local forms of Theresa, Tatiana and Thekla, so one favorite can open the door to a whole family of spellings.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Therese	German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English	German and Scandinavian variant of Theresa
Tereza	Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Brazilian Portuguese and more	Form of Theresa in various languages
Tatjana	Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, German, Finnish and more	Form of Tatiana in several languages
Tekla	Swedish, Latvian, Georgian, Hungarian	Form of Thekla: “glory of God”
Tomasa	Spanish	Spanish feminine form of Thomas
Toinette	French	Short form of Antoinette
Tiphaine	French	French form of Tiffany
Treasa	Irish	Possibly from Irish treise, “strength”, or treas, “battle”; also an Irish form of Theresa
Tegan	Welsh, English (modern)	“Darling” in Welsh, from a diminutive of teg, “beautiful, pretty”
Tegwen	Welsh	From Welsh teg, “beautiful, pretty”, and gwen, “white, blessed”; created in the 19th century
Tesni	Welsh	“Warmth” in Welsh
Thyra	Swedish, Danish	Variant of Tyra
Taisiya	Russian, Ukrainian	Russian and Ukrainian form of Thaïs (the saint)
Tasia	Greek	Short form of Anastasia
Tabea	German	German short form of Tabitha, used in earlier editions of the Luther Bible

German, Scandinavian, Slavic, French, Irish, Welsh, Russian and Greek T names.

Welsh gives the letter some of its warmest meanings: Tegan (darling), Tegwen (beautiful plus blessed) and Tesni (warmth). Treasa is Irish.

For Japanese and Chinese names, the meaning depends on the characters a family chooses, so treat each gloss as one common reading.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Tomoko	Japanese	“Wisdom, intellect” or “friend” plus “child”, depending on the characters
Tamiko	Japanese	“Many” plus “beautiful” plus “child” in one spelling; other kanji are possible
Tingting	Chinese	A repetition of the character for “pretty, graceful”; other characters are possible
Trang	Vietnamese	“Adornment, makeup” or “solemn, serious”, from Sino-Vietnamese
Thandiwe	Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele	“Loving one”, from thanda, “to love”
Thandeka	Zulu, Ndebele	“Loved” in Zulu and Ndebele
Tsholofelo	Tswana	“Hope, expectation” in Tswana
Tahira	Arabic, Urdu	Feminine form of Tahir: “virtuous, pure, chaste” in Arabic
Tasnim	Arabic, Bengali	From the name of a water spring in paradise, according to Islamic tradition
Tamanna	Hindi, Bengali	“Wish, desire” in Hindi, from Persian, ultimately from Arabic
Tanvi	Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati	“Slender woman”, from Sanskrit tanu, “slender”
Tzofiya	Hebrew (rare)	“Watching” in Hebrew
Talya	Hebrew	Alternate transcription of the Hebrew name Talia

Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Southern African, Arabic, South Asian and Hebrew T names.

Print accents and special letters exactly as the name is spelled (for example Teresa of Ávila, or the Old Norse forms Þóra and Þýri behind Thora and Tyra). U.S. paperwork does not always carry accents or special characters, so decide ahead of time whether you are comfortable seeing a name without them. If a name comes from a culture outside your own family, learn how it is pronounced and used before you commit.

Gender Neutral T Names

Behind the Name lists each of these as both feminine and masculine. Several began as English surnames, and others come from Hebrew, Chinese, Tibetan, Shona, Yoruba and Japanese. You will find more in our gender neutral names guide.

Name	Origin	Meaning
Taylor	English	From an English surname for a tailor; since 1990 more popular for girls than boys in the United States
Tatum	English (modern)	From an English surname taken from a place name: “Tata’s homestead” in Old English
Tracy	English	From an English surname, from a Norman French place name: “domain belonging to Thracius”; sometimes a diminutive of Theresa
Terry	English	Diminutive of Terence or Theresa
Toby	English	Medieval form of Tobias; sometimes used for girls in the 1930s and 40s
Teal	English (rare)	From the English word for the duck or the greenish-blue color
True	English (modern)	From the English word, from Old English triewe: “loyal, faithful”
Tal	Hebrew	“Dew” in Hebrew
Tam	Hebrew	“Honest, innocent” in Hebrew
Tai	Chinese	“Very, extreme” from one character, or other characters with a similar sound
Tenzin	Tibetan, Bhutanese	“Upholder of teachings” in Tibetan
Tendai	Shona	From Shona tenda: “be thankful, thank”
Tafadzwa	Shona	“We are pleased” in Shona
Taiwo	Yoruba	“Taste the world, taste life” in Yoruba
Takara	Japanese	“Treasure, jewel”, among other kanji with the same sound
Tomomi	Japanese	“Wisdom” or “friend” plus “beautiful” or “fruit, good result, truth”, depending on the characters

Gender neutral names that start with T.

Taylor is a useful case study. Behind the Name says it began as a surname for a tailor and that since 1990 it has been more popular for girls than boys in the United States. Toby went the other way: mainly a boys’ name, used for some girls in the 1930s and 40s.

Why T Names Are Loved: Sound, Spelling and Nicknames

A few plain reasons parents keep coming back to girl names that start with T:

T gives a crisp, clear start that is easy to hear across a room or a playground.
The letter holds ancient Greek names (Theodora, Thalia, Theia), Puritan virtue names (Temperance), and modern word names (Treasure, True, Tuesday).
It spans many languages, from Welsh and Finnish to Hebrew, Japanese, Zulu and Yoruba.
Many long T names shorten neatly into an everyday nickname, and many T nicknames work as full names.

The tricky part is Th. People will read the name before they hear it, and Th can mean two different sounds. This table shows the first sound of a dozen T names, using the pronunciation printed on each name’s Behind the Name entry (mostly in the International Phonetic Alphabet).

Name	Pronunciation	First sound
Thea	/ˈθi.ə/ (English), /ˈteː.a/ (German)	TH in English, T in German
Thalia	/ˈθeɪ.li.ə/ (English)	TH, as in think
Theodora	/ˌθi.ə.ˈdɔɹ.ə/ (English)	TH, as in think
Theresa	/tə.ˈɹiː.sə/ (English)	Plain T
Thomasina	/tɑm.ə.ˈsi.nə/ (American English)	Plain T
Thandiwe	tan-DEE-weh	Plain T
Thu	/tʰu˧˧/ (Vietnamese)	A breathy T
Tegan	/ˈtɛ.ɡan/ (Welsh), /ˈti.ɡən/ (English)	T; the vowel changes
Tamar	/ta.ˈmaʁ/ (Hebrew), /ˈteɪ.mɑɹ/ (American English)	T; stress and vowel change
Tsubaki	/t͡sɨᵝ.bä.kʲi/ (Japanese)	TS, as in cats
Tzipora	/t͡si.ˈpo.ʁa/ (Hebrew)	TS, as in cats
Tiphaine	/ti.fɛn/ (French)	Plain T; ph sounds like F

How T names start, per Behind the Name.

Here is the surprise most lists skip: Thea, Thalia and Theodora open with the TH sound of think in English, but Theresa and Thomasina open with a plain T, as does Thandiwe. Thea itself switches to a plain T in German. Tsubaki and Tzipora start with the TS sound at the end of cats. If relatives will meet the name on a card before they hear it, tell them how it is said.

Nicknames are the other big draw. Every pairing below is listed as a short form, diminutive or variant on Behind the Name.

Nickname	Longer name it comes from
Tess, Tessa, Tessie	Theresa (Tessa is a contracted form, Tess and Tessie short forms)
Teri, Terri, Terry, Tracy	Theresa (each entry lists it as a diminutive)
Thea	Theodora, Theresa or Dorothea
Theda	Theodora
Tilly, Tillie, Tilda	Matilda
Tabby, Tabea	Tabitha
Tanya, Tiana	Tatiana
Tammy, Tami	Tamara (Tami is a variant of Tammy)
Tamsin	Thomasina
Toni, Tonya	Antonia
Toinette	Antoinette
Tina	Christina, Martina and other names ending in tina
Tori	Victoria
Tricia	Patricia
Trixie	Beatrix
Trudy	Gertrude
Trina	Katrina
Tasia	Anastasia
Teresita	Teresa (a Spanish diminutive)

T nicknames and the names they come from, per Behind the Name.

Sibling, Twin and Middle Name Ideas

These pairings are ideas, not rules. Sister or twin sets that share a letter work best when the names differ in length, ending or first sound:

Thea and Tessa
Theodora and Tabitha
Talia and Tamar
Tali and Tova
Tove and Tuva
Tansy and Topaz
Tegan and Tesni
Thalia and Theia
Temperance and Treasure
Thandiwe and Thandeka

If you want the names to match without rhyming, pair across the sounds: a TH name with a plain T name (Thalia and Tamara) or a short name with a long one (Tess and Theodosia). Pairs from one language, such as Tegan and Tesni from Welsh or Tali and Tova from Hebrew, share a style without sharing a meaning.

For a brother, consider same-letter options such as Taylor, Tatum and Toby from the table above. Starting with a different letter? Our girl names that start with H list is another good place to look.

For middle names, contrast helps. A short middle balances a long first name, and a longer middle gives a short first name some weight. A double T can sound lovely: Thea Tamsin, Tessa Theodora, Talia Tove or Tabitha Tess.

The Initials Check and Other Quick Tests

Before you settle on girl names that start with T, run each finalist through four quick tests:

Initials: write out first, middle and last initials. T.L.C. is sweet; other combinations spell words or abbreviations you would not choose, so swap the middle name if you spot a problem.
Say it out loud: call the full name across a room. Check whether a T first name runs into a surname that starts with T or D, and whether people hear Th the way you mean it.
Spelling: many T names have a twin spelling (Tiana and Tianna, Tabitha and Tabatha, Tamsin and Tamsyn, Tegan and Teagan, Tova and Tovah). Decide whether you mind spelling it out for years.
Nicknames: check the table above. If you dislike the obvious short form, assume someone will use it anyway.

One more check is optional: how common the name is. No T name is in the 2025 girls’ top 10, so even the familiar choices here are not at the very top of the charts. For any name, the SSA’s Popularity of a Name search lets you look it up by sex and range of years, which is a quick way to tell familiar from truly rare.

If you are stuck between two finalists, try each one in the sentences you will say most: calling her to the table, introducing her to a neighbor, spelling it for a receptionist. The name that feels easy after a few days of that is usually the one.

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The Bottom Line

The letter T covers nearly every style: Greek classics like Theodora, Thalia and Theia, the big Theresa family, short Hebrew and Scandinavian names like Tali, Tova and Tove, nature names like Tansy, Tsubaki and Tindra, and names from Welsh, Japanese, Zulu, Arabic and many more. Shortlist three to five, check the meaning, test the initials and the Th sound, and say each one out loud for a week.

Then give yourself permission to stop looking. A name you have checked, said aloud and still like after a week is a good name.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most popular girl names that start with T?

No T name is in the Social Security Administration’s girls’ top 10 for 2025, but familiar T names include Thea, Theodora, Talia, Tessa, Teresa, Tabitha, Tatiana, Tiana and Tamara. Theodore ranked No. 4 for boys in 2025, and its feminine form Theodora and short form Thea are natural choices for a girl.

What are unique girl names that start with T?

Unique T names include Theodosia, Tacita, Thekla, Talulla, Tertia, Timothea, Theophania and Tullia. Many are ancient or rare in English. The Social Security Administration leaves names with fewer than 5 occurrences out of its lists, so the very rarest names will not appear in its data at all.

What are pretty T names for girls?

Taste is personal, but meanings can help. Tegan means darling in Welsh, Tesni means warmth, Thandiwe means loving one in Xhosa, Zulu and Ndebele, Tali means my dew in Hebrew, and Ting means pretty or graceful in Chinese. Tansy, Tiare and Tsubaki are all flower names.

What are short girl names that start with T?

Short T names include Tali, Tova, Tove, Tuva, Teri, Tori, Tami, Toni, Thu, Tyra, Thora and Ting, plus Thea, Tess, Tia and Tina. Some are full names in their own languages, such as Hebrew Tali and Tova or Vietnamese Thu, which means autumn. Others began as pet forms, like Tori from Victoria.

What are biblical girl names that start with T?

Tabitha, meaning gazelle in Aramaic, is the best known. Others are Tamar, Tirzah and Talitha, plus Tryphena and Tryphosa, two women mentioned briefly in the New Testament. Tzipora is the modern Hebrew form of Zipporah, the wife of Moses, and Tehila is a Hebrew name meaning praise.

Which T names work for both girls and boys?

Taylor, Tatum, Tracy, Terry, Toby, Teal and True are English names listed by Behind the Name as both feminine and masculine. So are Tal and Tam from Hebrew, Tai from Chinese, Tenzin from Tibetan, Tendai and Tafadzwa from Shona, Taiwo from Yoruba, and Takara and Tomomi from Japanese.

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