Explore the Family Name Tesla

The meaning of Tesla

Serbian and Croatian; Slovak (Tešla and Tešľa): metonymic occupational name for a carpenter, from Serbian and Croatian tesla, Slovak tešla ‘adze’. History: The surname Tesla is famous for the Serbian-American electrical and mechanical engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla (1856–1943). He was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan in Croatia (then part of the Habsburg Empire) and immigrated to the US in 1884. He had no children.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Tesla in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Tesla has seen a significant decline from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Tesla was ranked 104,819 in popularity and by 2010, it had fallen to 142,108. The total count of people with this surname also decreased during this decade, going down from 158 to 117. This equates to a decrease of 25.95 percent in its overall prevalence, and a drop of 33.33 percent in proportion per 100,000 people.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#104,819	#142,108	-35.57%
Count	158	117	-25.95%
Proportion per 100k	0.06	0.04	-33.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Tesla

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the surname Tesla identify as White. Between 2000 and 2010, there was a slight decrease in this group, from 94.30 percent to 93.16 percent, representing a 1.21 percent change. The data from both the 2000 and 2010 Censuses show no individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native under the Tesla surname. However, there was a new emergence of the surname among the Hispanic population in 2010, accounting for 4.27 percent of the Teslas.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.3%	93.16%	-1.21%
Hispanic	0%	4.27%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%