Tess

Tess is a female given name that is commonly a diminutive form of Theresa or Elizabeth, though it is often used as an independent name as well. It has been in use in English-speaking countries for well over a century and remains popular in many regions. The name is often associated with qualities of gentleness and strength in cultural references.

Notable people named Tess include Tess Daly, a British television presenter known for hosting music and entertainment programs; Tess Holliday, an American model and advocate for body positivity; Tess Gerritsen, an American physician and novelist best known for the Rizzoli & Isles series; and Tessanne Chin, a Jamaican-Canadian singer who won The Voice US. The name has also appeared in various professional fields, including sports, arts, and academia.

In fiction, Tess Durbeyfield is the title character of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a tragedy that explores issues of class, fate, and morality in Victorian England. In contemporary media, Tess is a supporting character in the video game The Last of Us and its adaptations, where she plays a key role in the narrative and interactions with other protagonists.

Tess is sometimes associated with the NASA mission acronym TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Launched in 2018, TESS is a space telescope designed to discover exoplanets by monitoring bright nearby stars for transits, contributing extensive data to the field of astronomy and the study of planetary systems beyond the Solar System.