Kaisha
Feminine
Kai is a real name in at least five unrelated languages. It is the sea in Hawaiian, a Frisian short form of Gerhard, a Japanese element, a Chinese given name, and a Maori word for food. Very few syllables manage that, and it is why the sound travels so well.
How old is the name Kaisha?
Kaisha first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Kaisha alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 1,000 people named Kaisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaisha most popular?
Kaisha peaked in 1987, reaching #2657 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 6,800 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kaisha
Kai is the best example there is of a syllable that several unrelated naming systems arrived at independently. In Hawaiian it is the sea, and it appears in dozens of compound names. In Frisian and northern German it is an old short form, variously traced to Gerhard, Nikolaus or Kaius. In Japanese it is written with several characters and used freely. In Chinese it is a common given name meaning to open or triumph. In Maori kai is food. In Navajo it has been claimed as willow, though that is less well attested. The reason is arithmetic rather than contact: a consonant plus the commonest diphthong is one of the simplest possible syllables, and any language with those sounds will produce it eventually. American parents reaching for Kai are usually reaching for the sound and inheriting all five associations without choosing any.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Kaisha has no inherited etymology. It joins a Kai- opening to a -sha ending, both drawn from the American sound stock. Kai exists independently as a name in Hawaiian, where it means sea, in Frisian and German, where it is a short form of Gerhard or Nikolaus, and in Japanese and Chinese. None of these is the source here. The peak is 1987.
Pronouncing Kaisha
KY-shah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some families say KAY-shah, which the spelling also permits. Keisha, a different name, is KEE-shah.
Nicknames for Kaisha
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 199847 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2657reached in 1987
- Change vs 2023
- −23.1%10 in 2025, from 13
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.
Kaisha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaysha in English — spelling variant
- Keisha in English — related form
Kaishas among us
people named Kaisha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Kaisha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaisha
- #9457
- Kaisha on the 2025 chart
- #918
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaisha went to 10 girls in 2025, but Kaysha is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 42, which makes it the 918th most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,539 places above the chart.
- Kaysha32
- Kaisha10
About 1 girl in 38,268 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Kaisha 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 Zelta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaisha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Zelta climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Zelta's path sketches the road Kaisha is walking now.
Kaisha 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
Kaisha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaisha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kai is available as a short form and is a name in its own right.
- Six letters and two syllables, compact and clear.
- The sound is familiar across several traditions.
- The first vowel has two readings.
- Keisha and Kaysha are close competitors.
- It has no meaning in any language.
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Kaisha
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaishas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Kaisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaisha?
- Kaisha is one of 2 recorded spellings. Kaysha is the more common one — 32 births in 2025 against 10 for Kaisha.
- How popular is the name Kaisha in 2025?
- Kaisha ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaisha?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Kaisha — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaisha with classmates?
- Kaisha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaisha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaisha? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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