Tess

Tess is an English and Dutch short form of Theresa, a name whose exact origin is debated but is most commonly traced to the Greek toponym Therasia, referring to the Greek island of that name, with an alternative theory connecting it to the Greek word therizo, meaning to harvest. The name gained widespread literary recognition through Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which made Tess feel like a complete given name in its own right rather than simply a nickname. Teresa and Theresa are the principal longer forms from which Tess derives, and Tessa is a closely related variant used across several European traditions.