Katisha
Feminine
Katisha is an unusual case: a name that almost certainly entered English through a comic opera, attached to one of the most interesting characters in the whole repertoire and one of the least kindly written.
How old is the name Katisha?
Katisha first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Katisha alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 700 people named Katisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Katisha most popular?
Katisha peaked in 1980, reaching #1936 nationally. See the whole 1980 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Katisha
In The Mikado, Katisha is an older woman with a claim on the hero, and the libretto spends a good deal of its time making jokes at the expense of her age and her face. She is also given the best serious music in the piece: a sudden shift into something genuinely moving, in the middle of a farce, where she asks the audience to look past what they have been laughing at. Performers have been rescuing the part from the writing for well over a century, and a good Katisha can change the temperature of an entire production. The opera as a whole, with its invented Japan, is now staged with a great deal more care than it once was, for reasons that are not difficult to see.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name was invented for the stage and has no etymology to recover. It may also have been arrived at separately by American families building on Kate or Katie, and the record does not distinguish the cases.
Pronouncing Katisha
kuh-TEE-shuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. kuh-TISH-uh is also heard and the spelling does not decide.
Nicknames for Katisha
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
- 1971
- Most girls named
- 198055 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1936reached in 1980
- Change vs 1999
- +20.0%6 in 2001, from 5
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.
Katishas among us
people named Katisha 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
Katisha sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Kati and Tisha are both available as short forms and both stand alone.
- Three syllables with a strong middle stress carry well and are easy to remember.
- It is genuinely rare while being made entirely of familiar sounds.
- Two readings of the middle vowel are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- The operatic character is written unkindly, which anyone who knows the piece will remember.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing settled to answer with.
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Katisha
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Katishas 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 Katisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Katisha in 2025?
- Katisha is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Katisha with classmates?
- Katisha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Katisha? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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