Tesla
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.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Tesla peaked in the 1990s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
32 people · the #90,373 first name in Brazil · median age 13
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
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.
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.
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