Anisa
Feminine · “friendly”
Anisa comes from an Arabic word for good company — the person whose presence makes a room easier. It has traveled from Arabic into Albanian, Bosnian and American records without changing shape, and it is said almost exactly as it is spelled.
How old is the name Anisa?
Anisa first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Anisa alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 5,500 people named Anisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anisa most popular?
Anisa peaked in 1967, reaching #1020 nationally. Today it ranks #2751, 1,731 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Where it comes from
From Anis to Anisa
The story of Anisa
The root is the Arabic anisa, to be sociable or to keep company, which gives the masculine Anis and the feminine Anisa. It spread with Arabic across North Africa and into the Balkans, where Albanian and Bosnian families have used it for generations as their own. English-language records show it in several spellings — Anisa, Anisah, Anissa — because Arabic script leaves the final vowel open to more than one Roman rendering.
Meaning
friendly, good company
How the name formed
- Anis
- Anisa
Related forms: Anisah · Anissa · Anisa · Enise
Pronouncing Anisa
ah-NEE-sah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Some American families say uh-NISS-uh, closer to the Anissa spelling.
Nicknames for Anisa
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
- 1958
- Most girls named
- 2005221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1020reached in 1967
- Change vs 2024
- −29.5%62 in 2025, from 88
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.
Anisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Anisah in Arabic — transliteration
- Anissa in French — spelling variant
- Anisa in Albanian — same name
- Enise in Turkish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Minnesota.
Anisas among us
people named Anisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 25,924 born in 2025 was named Anisa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Anisa
- #2751
- Anisa on the 2025 chart
- #876
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Anisa went to 62 girls in 2025, but Anisah, Annisa and Aniza are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 84, which makes it the 876th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,875 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 19,134 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 25,924 for Anisa 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 Madelon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anisa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Madelon climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Madelon's path sketches the road Anisa is walking now.
Anisa 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
Where Anisa is headed
Anisa should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Anisa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anisa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling and the sound match, so it survives a phone call and a form without correction.
- It works in Arabic, Albanian, Bosnian and English without translation or apology.
- Two ready short forms, Ani and Nisa, without either being forced.
- Anissa, Aneesa and Anisah all exist in American records, so you will spell it aloud more than once.
- Outside communities that already know it, the middle-stress pronunciation gets flattened to uh-NISS-uh.
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What they receive
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Anisa
Feminine · #2751 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,500 people named Anisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Anisa?
- Anisa is the most-used spelling in US records — 62 of the 84 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Anisah, Annisa and Aniza.
- How popular is the name Anisa in 2025?
- Anisa ranks #2751 among US girl names in 2025, with 62 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anisa?
- About 1 in every 25,924 US girls born in 2025 was named Anisa — 62 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anisa with classmates?
- Anisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anisa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emmersyn#2751 · Nya#2751 · Runa#2751 · Cloe#2751 · Emeline#2751 · Allisson#2751 · Annalynn#2751 · Ziyah#2751
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anisa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anisa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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