Alysa
Feminine · “Greek alysson”
Alyssum is a rabies drug. The Greek name of the plant means without madness, because it was believed to cure the bite of a mad dog, and the flower carried that name for two thousand years before anyone gave it to a child.
How old is the name Alysa?
Alysa first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Alysa alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 6,900 people named Alysa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alysa most popular?
Alysa peaked in 2001, reaching #737 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,370 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From alysson to Alysa
The story of Alysa
Ancient and medieval medicine assigned specific plants to specific afflictions, and the names often record the claim. Alysson was the plant for madness, particularly the madness that follows the bite of a dog, and Pliny and Dioscorides both describe its use; the Latin herbals repeat it, and the name passed into botany intact when Linnaeus formalized the genus. Several other plants carry their old medical claims in the same way: pulmonaria for the lungs, saxifrage for stones, feverfew for fevers, self-heal for wounds. None of them works, but the names outlived the theory by centuries. Alyssa entered English as a flower name in the nineteenth century and became one of the most common American girls' names of the 1980s and 1990s, by which point the dogs had been entirely forgotten.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek alysson, curing madness
Alyssa is generally taken from the flower alyssum, from Greek a-, without, and lyssa, rage or rabies, a plant used against the bite of rabid animals. A separate derivation from Adelaide through Alice is also proposed. Alysa is a simplified American spelling; its peak is 2001.
How the name formed
- alysson
- Alyssum
- Alyssa
- Alysa
Related forms: Alyssa · Alissa · Alissa
Pronouncing Alysa
uh-LISS-uh
Three syllables, stress on the second. Alyssa, Alissa and Alysa are homophones; the single s does not shorten anything.
Nicknames for Alysa
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1953
- Most girls named
- 2001325 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #737reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- −35.7%9 in 2025, from 14
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Alysa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alyssa in English — spelling variant
- Alissa in English — spelling variant
- Alissa in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, New York.
Alysas among us
people named Alysa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Alysa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alysa
- #10107
- Alysa on the 2025 chart
- #394
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alysa went to 9 girls in 2025, but Aliza, Alisa and Alizah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 8 spellings went to 754, which makes it the 394th most-given girls’ name of the year — 9,713 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 2,132 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 178,585 for Alysa itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Mickie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alysa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mickie climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mickie's path sketches the road Alysa is walking now.
Alysa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Alysa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alysa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Aly and Lyssa are two short forms in different styles.
- The flower behind it is real and its name is documented in ancient sources.
- Three syllables with a clear central stress.
- Alyssa is the standard spelling by a wide margin.
- The unstressed first vowel makes the spelling hard to guess from hearing.
- The 2001 peak dates this form.
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What they receive
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Alysa
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alysas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,900 people named Alysa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alysa?
- Alysa is one of 8 recorded spellings. Aliza is the more common one — 420 births in 2025 against 9 for Alysa.
- How popular is the name Alysa in 2025?
- Alysa ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alysa?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Alysa — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alysa with classmates?
- Alysa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alysa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Su#10107 · Arletta#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alysa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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