Iesha
Feminine · “living”
Iesha is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 7,452 girls against 15 boys since 1880.
Iesha is one American spelling of Aisha, an Arabic name meaning alive — and one of the most historically consequential women's names in the Islamic world, since its first bearer was the Prophet's wife and a major transmitter of hadith.
How old is the name Iesha?
Iesha first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Iesha alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 7,300 people named Iesha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Iesha most popular?
Iesha peaked in 1991, reaching #157 nationally. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ʿāʾisha to Iesha
The story of Iesha
Aisha bint Abi Bakr is among the most-discussed figures of early Islam, credited with transmitting a large body of the hadith, and her name has been given continuously across the Muslim world for fourteen centuries. It entered African American use in the later twentieth century, both directly and through a broader turn toward names outside the European tradition. English respellings multiplied — Aisha, Ayesha, Ieasha, Iesha — and this one peaked in the early 1990s, given a sharp push by a hit song of the same name.
Meaning
living, alive
From the Arabic ʿāʾisha, the feminine of a word meaning 'living' or 'she who lives'. The root ʿ-y-sh underlies a family of words about life and livelihood, and the meaning is transparent to Arabic speakers.
How the name formed
- ʿāʾisha
- Aisha
- Iesha
Related forms: عائشة · Aisha · Ayesha · Aisha
Pronouncing Iesha
ee-AY-shuh
Three syllables in this spelling, stress in the middle. The Arabic original is closer to AA-ee-sha, and the standard English spelling Aisha is usually said ah-EE-shuh.
Nicknames for Iesha
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 19911,896 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #157reached in 1991
- Change vs 2022
- +33.3%8 in 2023, from 6
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.
Iesha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- عائشة in Arabic — transliteration
- Aisha in English — spelling variant
- Ayesha in English — spelling variant
- Aisha in Swahili — same name
Ieshas among us
people named Iesha are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Iesha has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent and unambiguously positive in a language spoken by hundreds of millions.
- It has fourteen centuries of continuous documented use behind it.
- It is recognized across the Arab world, East Africa, South Asia and beyond.
- Many English spellings compete, and Aisha is the standard transliteration.
- This spelling suggests a pronunciation somewhat different from the Arabic original.
- In American records it is closely tied to the early 1990s.
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What they receive
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Iesha
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Ieshas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,300 people named Iesha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Iesha in 2025?
- Iesha is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Iesha with classmates?
- Iesha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More I names
The most-given names starting with I, all years combined.
Isabella#7 · Irene#651 · Ida#1120 · Isabel#176 · Isabelle#166 · Iris#61 · Ivy#39 · Irma#3167
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Iesha? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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