Ayesha
Feminine · “alive”
Ayesha is one spelling of a name that has been in continuous use since seventh-century Arabia — one of the oldest women's names still given to babies anywhere. It comes to English through Urdu and older British transcriptions, which is why this form, with its y, is the one most familiar in South Asia and Britain. Three syllables, all vowels doing the work, and the stress falling comfortably in the middle.
How old is the name Ayesha?
Ayesha first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Ayesha alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 6,600 people named Ayesha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ayesha most popular?
Ayesha peaked in 1979, reaching #974 nationally. Today it ranks #1396, 422 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ʿĀʾishah to Ayesha
The story of Ayesha
The name belongs to Arabic and to the root meaning "to live"; its most famous early bearer was Aisha bint Abi Bakr, wife of the Prophet Muhammad and a central figure in early Islamic history. From there it traveled with Islam — into West Africa, Turkey, the Balkans, Persia, and across South Asia, taking a slightly different shape in each language. The Ayesha spelling reflects the Urdu pronunciation and the way British writers and clerks in India wrote it down; H. Rider Haggard used exactly this form for the immortal queen of his 1887 novel "She" and its sequel. In the United States the name has been recorded for generations, arriving by more than one route: through Muslim families from many countries, and through African American naming traditions that drew deliberately on Arabic and Swahili names.
Meaning
alive, living, thriving
From the Arabic root ʿ-y-sh, to live. The classical form is ʿĀʾishah.
How the name formed
- ʿĀʾishah
- Aisha
- Ayesha
Related forms: ʿĀʾishah / عائشة · Ayşe · Ayisha · Aïcha · Aisyah · Ajša
Pronouncing Ayesha
ah-YEE-shuh
Also heard as eye-EE-shuh and, closer to the Turkish Ayşe, AY-shuh. All three are in genuine use, so it is worth deciding which one your family will offer first.
Nicknames for Ayesha
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
- 2016178 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #974reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- −6.0%156 in 2025, from 166
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.
Ayesha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ʿĀʾishah / عائشة in Arabic — transliteration
- Ayşe in Turkish — same name
- Ayisha in Urdu — spelling variant
- Aïcha in French (Maghrebi) — spelling variant
- Aisyah in Indonesian — spelling variant
- Ajša in Bosnian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Texas, California.
Ayeshas among us
people named Ayesha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,303 born in 2025 was named Ayesha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vernetta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ayesha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vernetta climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vernetta's path sketches the road Ayesha is walking now.
Ayesha 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 Ayesha is headed
Ayesha should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Ayesha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ayesha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognized across Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Swahili, Indonesian and Bosnian naming traditions — familiar on several continents rather than only one.
- A documented record stretching back to seventh-century Arabia, unbroken ever since.
- Familiar to most ears without being duplicated in a classroom.
- Established short forms already exist, from Aysh to Ash, so nothing needs inventing.
- Aisha, Ayisha, Aiesha and Ayasha all circulate alongside this spelling, so expect to spell it out fairly often and to see the y quietly dropped by people who mean well.
- Pronunciation varies genuinely by community — ah-YEE-shuh, eye-EE-shuh and AY-shuh are all correct somewhere. That is easy to live with, but it does mean occasional gentle correcting.
- Within Islam the name carries specific religious weight: Aisha bint Abi Bakr is deeply honored in Sunni tradition and regarded quite differently in parts of Shia tradition. For some families that history is the whole point; for others it is worth knowing about in advance.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ayesha
Feminine · #1396 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ayeshas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,600 people named Ayesha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ayesha in 2025?
- Ayesha ranks #1396 among US girl names in 2025, with 156 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ayesha?
- About 1 in every 10,303 US girls born in 2025 was named Ayesha — 156 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ayesha with classmates?
- Ayesha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ayesha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eleanore#1396 · Inez#1396 · Erica#1396 · Maeva#1396 · Layne#1396 · Noelia#1396 · Calla#1396 · Kynlee#1396
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ayesha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ayesha and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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