Wutz in a name?

At the risk of seeming like a stupid and uninformed American, I have a spelling question.
Is it Theresa, or Teresa?
CNN, ABC, and the Telegraph spell it Teresa, but Theresa appears on many of the American news sites. (Including the New York Times.)
Googling “Theresa Heinz Kerry” yields only 9000 hits, while “Teresa Heinz Kerry” gets over 200,000.
Some people (including the Tampa Tribune, Fox News’ John Gibson, and an occasional writer or blog commenter) even use “Tereza.”
But Teresa it is, I think.
I stand corrected!


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5 responses to “Wutz in a name?”

  1. Varius Contrarius Avatar
    Varius Contrarius

    The preferred spelling, I believe, is Teresa, and the preferred pronunciation is Tuh-RAY-suh.
    At first I thought this post was going to mention “Momma T,” or alternately “Mama T.”

  2. Eric Scheie Avatar

    Holy Mother! This is starting to sound like a saintly business.

  3. Raging Bee Avatar
    Raging Bee

    One should probably ask Ms. Kerry how she spells and pronounces it. Or look at an official document, like her passport or birth certificate.

  4. Sean Kinsell Avatar

    I’m pretty sure that when John Heinz was alive, she was known as Teresa Heinz.

  5. Varius Crispinus Avatar
    Varius Crispinus

    She was known as Teresa Heinz until the Kerry campaign demanded she tack on Kerry.
    Interestingly enough, this piece addresses that as well as the pronunciation of her name (and a bit more besides).