Tesla
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Meaning
meaning debated, possibly linked to a carpentry tool; a surname-style tribute to Nikola Tesla
The story
Tesla is a Serbian surname whose meaning is debated, possibly linked to an old word for a carpenter's tool, and as a first name it is a pure tribute to Nikola Tesla, the inventor whose alternating-current motors and transformers helped make electricity practical at scale, and who died in a New York hotel room in 1943 with his fame at low ebb. History has more than corrected that: Tesla became a patron saint of visionary engineering, and when an electric carmaker took his name, the word started appearing on driveways everywhere. American parents followed, and the name enters US records only in the 2010s, right as the company and the inventor's revival hit full stride; we cannot prove the connection, but the timing is hard to ignore. It works for boys and girls alike: rare, electric, unmistakable.
How popular is Tesla around the world?
In the United States, 118 babies were named Tesla between 2020 and 2025.
Tesla is on the official records of the United States and Brazil.
United States
1 in 180,000
In the United States, 118 babies were named Tesla between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Tesla peaked in the 1990s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 32 people in Brazil were named Tesla, ranked 90,373rd, with a median age of 13.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Canada
last on record 2018
Tesla is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Mexico City City
last on record 2020
Tesla is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
South Australia
last on record 2008
Tesla is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Argentina, Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Tesla
Most people given the name Tesla in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Tesla deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Tesla truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Tesla fits with your family’s names and surname.
Does Tesla fit YOUR family?
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