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Home › Baby Names Directory › Ressie

Ressie

♀ Girl

How to Pronounce Ressie

Pronounced RES-ee /ˈrɛs.i/Medium

Meaning: Ressie is an old Southern American given name whose roots are not firmly documented. It most plausibly began as a pet form of Theresa (via 'Ressa') or a clipped Odessa. We flag the origin as uncertain rather than assign a single definite parent.Low

In 30 seconds: Ressie is a turn-of-the-century Southern name, most likely a homespun short form of Theresa or Odessa (said 'RES-ee'). Its exact root isn't recorded.
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Origin LowEnglish
MeaningRessie is an old Southern American given name whose roots are not firmly documented. It most plausibly began as a pet form of Theresa (via 'Ressa') or a clipped Odessa. We flag the origin as uncertain rather than assign a single definite parent.
U.S. rank (1981)#11701 ↘ Falling
1981 U.S. births5 girls (0.00% of U.S. girls)
Peak year1917
Total births (all-time)≈ 1,823
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Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

peak 191718811981

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Ressie is a homespun girls' name of the early-twentieth-century South, and its origin is not securely documented. The likeliest route is a pet form of Theresa (through a middle 'Ressa') or a shortening of Odessa. It appears in U.S. records from the eighteen-eighties and crested around 1917 at just over sixty girls a year.

Ressie faded after the nineteen-twenties and had largely disappeared by the nineteen-eighties. A short, two-beat name in the mold of Bessie and Nettie, it reads as firmly antique and rural, with no modern revival in this spelling.

Did you know? Ressie is one of a whole crop of brisk -ie names — Ressie, Bessie, Lessie — that flourished in the rural South a century ago and then all but vanished together.
Overall data confidence 42%
References — Ressie — vintage Southern given name; origin uncertain, possibly Theresa/Odessa

Variations

RessaResa

Nicknames

ResRessie

Famous Bearers

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If you like Ressie…

Bessie— a like brisk Southern -ie vintage name
Nettie— shares the two-beat turn-of-century feel
Lessie— a same-era rhyming -essie coinage
Essie— another short antique -ie nickname-name

Explore names like Ressie

By themeuncertainvintagesouthern

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Ressie mean?

Ressie's origin is uncertain; it is most likely a Southern pet form of Theresa or a clipped Odessa, though the root isn't confirmed.

How do you pronounce Ressie?

It's said RES-ee /ˈrɛs.i/ — two syllables, stress on the first.

Is Ressie a boy or girl name?

Ressie is used as a girl's name.

How popular is Ressie?

Ressie was an uncommon early-century Southern name that crested around the nineteen-teens and has been rare since.

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