Alyssa
Feminine
Alyssa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 314,606 girls against 432 boys since 1880.
Alyssa sits in the mouth easily — three syllables, the stress in the middle, a soft hiss and a soft ending. It belongs to one of the oldest and best-traveled name families in Europe, the one that gave English Alice and Spanish Alicia, and it also shares its letters exactly with alyssum, the low white flower of garden borders. Two pleasant associations for one short name.
How old is the name Alyssa?
Alyssa first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Alyssa alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 310,000 people named Alyssa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alyssa most popular?
Alyssa peaked in 1998, reaching #11 nationally. Today it ranks #453, 442 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Where it comes from
From Adalheidis to Alyssa
The story of Alyssa
The deep root is Germanic: Adalheidis, built from words for 'noble' and 'kind', which became Adelaide and then, worn smooth in medieval France and England, Alice. Spanish and Latin took the same name as Alicia, and it is from that longer form that the -ssa endings grew in English-speaking countries. Alyssa itself is a modern American spelling of that family, favoring y over i in the way many names were respelled in twentieth-century United States records. Alongside all this runs the flower: botanists gave the genus Alyssum its Greek-derived name long before the given name became common, so the two have shared a spelling for generations.
Meaningscholars disagree
Either 'noble' (through Alice) or the flower alyssum, from Greek for 'without madness'
Most reference works treat Alyssa as an English respelling of Alice or Alicia, which descend from Germanic Adalheidis, 'noble kind'. The other serious reading is botanical: the flower name alyssum comes from Greek a- 'not' plus lyssa 'rabies, madness', because the plant was used in antiquity as a remedy for rabies. Both readings are genuinely held, and the spelling with -y- fits either.
How the name formed
- Adalheidis
- Adelaide
- Alice
- Alicia
- Alyssa
Related forms: Alicia · Alice · Alissa · Alysa · Alisa · Alicja
Pronouncing Alyssa
uh-LISS-uh
Stress on the middle syllable. Some families say ah-LISS-uh; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting. The y is pronounced exactly like an i.
Nicknames for Alyssa
High
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 199914,036 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #11reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −14.5%680 in 2025, from 795
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.
Alyssa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alicia in Spanish — related form
- Alice in English, French — related form
- Alissa in English — spelling variant
- Alysa in English — spelling variant
- Alisa in Russian — transliteration
- Alicja in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Alyssas among us
people named Alyssa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,364 born in 2025 was named Alyssa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alyssa
- #453
- Alyssa on the 2025 chart
- #380
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alyssa went to 680 girls in 2025, but Alissa and Allyssa are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 784, which makes it the 380th most-given girls’ name of the year — 73 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 2,050 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,364 for Alyssa 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 Brenda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alyssa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Brenda climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Brenda's path sketches the road Alyssa is walking now.
Alyssa is coming down from a big peak (#11 in 1998). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Alyssa is headed
Alyssa is easing off slowly — about 26% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Alyssa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alyssa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Pronunciation is obvious to English speakers on sight — no one has to be taught how to say it.
- Belongs to the Alice and Alicia family, so it connects easily across English, Spanish, French and Polish.
- Has established short forms already in real use: Aly, Lyssa, Lissa.
- Strongly represented among adults today, so it reads as a familiar name rather than an unfamiliar one, while children carrying it are now scattered rather than clustered.
- The spelling competes with Alissa, Alisa, Alysa and Alyssia. Expect to spell it aloud fairly often, though 'Alyssa with a y' settles it quickly.
- It is closely tied to one generation of Americans now in adulthood, which is why it can read as recent rather than classic — and why a child named Alyssa is unlikely to share a classroom with another.
- The flower etymology, if you like it, comes with an odd literal sense — Greek for 'without madness', from a plant once used against rabies. Charming as a footnote, less so if you want a meaning that stands alone.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Alyssa to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Alyssa? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Alyssa
Feminine · #453 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alyssas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 310,000 people named Alyssa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alyssa?
- Alyssa is the most-used spelling in US records — 680 of the 784 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Alissa and Allyssa.
- How popular is the name Alyssa in 2025?
- Alyssa ranks #453 among US girl names in 2025, with 680 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alyssa?
- About 1 in every 2,364 US girls born in 2025 was named Alyssa — 680 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alyssa with classmates?
- Alyssa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alyssa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Madeleine#454 · Carter#454 · Calliope#451 · Reign#451 · Clementine#456 · Wynter#456 · Zariah#449 · Alma#449
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alyssa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alyssa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle