Kaisa
Feminine · “Greek "pure”
Kaisa is the Finnish and Estonian short form of Katariina, and it is worth putting beside Kaja, which does the same job in Norwegian and Slovenian. One Greek name has been clipped independently in a dozen European languages, and each language cut it in a different place — which is why Kate, Katja, Kaja, Kaisa, Katinka and Trine are all the same name.
How old is the name Kaisa?
Kaisa first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Kaisa alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 700 people named Kaisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaisa most popular?
Kaisa peaked in 1972, reaching #4523 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 2,610 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Kaisa
The story of Kaisa
Finnish takes long borrowed names and reduces them by fixed rules: Katariina gives Kaisa, Kaija and Katri; Margareta gives Reeta; Elisabet gives Liisa. Kaisa has been a completely ordinary Finnish name for centuries, common enough in the countryside to appear in folk songs. Estonian has it too. Its American presence is small and steady, peaking in 1972, and reflects Finnish and Estonian descent rather than fashion — which is why the curve has no spike anywhere in it.
Meaning
Greek "pure", by way of Katariina
From Greek Aikaterine through Latin Catharina to Finnish Katariina. The Greek original's own etymology is obscure; the connection to katharos, "pure", is a Christian-era reinterpretation rather than the source. That reinterpretation is nonetheless what every European form has carried for a thousand years.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Catharina
- Katariina
- Kaisa
Related forms: Kaisa · Kaisa · Kajsa · Kaja · Kate
Pronouncing Kaisa
KIGH-sah
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the ai as a genuine diphthong close to the English word eye. Finnish pronounces every letter and never reduces the final vowel: KIGH-sah, not KIGH-suh.
Nicknames for Kaisa
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
- 1966
- Most girls named
- 200325 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4523reached in 1972
- Change vs 2024
- +25.0%15 in 2025, from 12
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.
Kaisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaisa in Finnish — same name
- Kaisa in Estonian — same name
- Kajsa in Swedish — same name
- Kaja in Norwegian — related form
- Kate in English — related form
Kaisas among us
people named Kaisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Kaisa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaisa
- #7133
- Kaisa on the 2025 chart
- #939
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaisa went to 15 girls in 2025, but Kaiza is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 21, which makes it the 939th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,194 places above the chart.
- Kaisa15
- Kaiza6
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 107,151 for Kaisa 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 Karia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaisa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Karia climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Karia's path sketches the road Kaisa is walking now.
Kaisa 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
Kaisa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaisa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a real Finnish and Estonian name with centuries of use, not a modern respelling.
- It belongs to the enormous Katherine family while sounding nothing like Katherine.
- It is five letters and two syllables with no difficult sounds.
- English speakers say KAY-suh, reading ai as a long A.
- It looks like a respelling of Kaisha or Keisha, which are unrelated.
- Kaisa, Kajsa and Kaija are three national spellings of nearly the same name.
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What they receive
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Kaisa
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Kaisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaisa?
- Kaisa is the most-used spelling in US records — 15 of the 21 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kaiza.
- How popular is the name Kaisa in 2025?
- Kaisa ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaisa?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Kaisa — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaisa with classmates?
- Kaisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaisa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaisa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaisa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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