Kesha
Feminine · “cassia”
Kesha is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 5,248 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
The book of Job ends with three daughters, named where the sons are not: Jemimah, Keziah and Keren-happuch. The text says there were no women as beautiful in all the land, and then says something far more unusual — that their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
How old is the name Kesha?
Kesha first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Kesha alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 5,000 people named Kesha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kesha most popular?
Kesha peaked in 1974, reaching #524 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,408 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Keziah to Kesha
The story of Kesha
The three names at the end of Job are all sensory: Jemimah is a dove, Keziah is cassia, and Keren-happuch is a horn of eye-paint. And the inheritance line is not decoration. Daughters did not ordinarily inherit alongside sons in that world, and the book states plainly that these did, which readers have argued about for two thousand years. Keziah went into English use with the Puritans, who took names from every corner of the Hebrew scriptures, and it was carried into American records and shortened. Kesha and Keisha belong to that line or to a twentieth-century coinage; the record does not distinguish, and both are real.
Meaningscholars disagree
cassia, the spice bark
Keziah, the likeliest source, is Hebrew for cassia — the aromatic bark related to cinnamon, used in incense and perfume. Kesha may also be a clip of Keisha or Lakeisha, whose own origins are not established. The connection is plausible and undocumented for this spelling.
How the name formed
- Keziah
- Keisha
- Kesha
Related forms: Ketzia
Pronouncing Kesha
KEE-shuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. KESH-uh, with a short first vowel, is also used. The Hebrew Keziah has three syllables and a z, keh-TSEE-ah, which is a noticeably different word.
Nicknames for Kesha
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
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 1976313 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #524reached in 1974
- Change vs 2024
- +16.7%7 in 2025, 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.
Kesha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ketzia in Hebrew — related form
Keshas among us
people named Kesha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Kesha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kesha
- #11932
- Kesha on the 2025 chart
- #948
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kesha went to 7 girls in 2025, but Keesha is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 12, which makes it the 948th most-given girls’ name of the year — 10,984 places above the chart.
- Kesha7
- Keesha5
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Kesha 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 Toby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kesha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Toby climbed just as high around 1936, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Toby's path sketches the road Kesha is walking now.
Kesha 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
Kesha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kesha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables that everyone can say and nearly spell after one hearing.
- One of its possible sources is a documented biblical name with an unusual story.
- It serves either child, and the records show both.
- Keisha, Kiesha and Keshia are all in use and all close.
- The first vowel is said two ways and the spelling settles neither.
- The very few boys given this spelling will be read as girls on paper.
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Kesha
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Keshas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,000 people named Kesha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kesha?
- Kesha is the most-used spelling in US records — 7 of the 12 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Keesha.
- How popular is the name Kesha in 2025?
- Kesha ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kesha?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Kesha — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kesha with classmates?
- Kesha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kesha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kesha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kesha and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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