Lissa
Feminine · “Greek melissa”
Melissa is a bee, and in Greek religion that was a job. The priestesses of Demeter at Eleusis were called melissae, bees, and so were those of Artemis at Ephesus and the priestess at Delphi. The word for the insect was the word for a class of women in the service of a goddess.
How old is the name Lissa?
Lissa first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Lissa alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 3,600 people named Lissa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lissa most popular?
Lissa peaked in 1958, reaching #958 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 7,404 places below that high. See the whole 1958 chart.
Where it comes from
From melissa to Lissa
The story of Lissa
Bees were sacred across the ancient Mediterranean and the associations are consistent: prophecy, purity, the dead and the gods' food. Honey was the only concentrated sweetener available, it does not spoil, and it was used in offerings and in embalming. The priestesses called melissae appear in several cults, and a nymph named Melissa is said in one version to have discovered honey and to have nursed the infant Zeus on it. The Delphic priestess is called the Delphic bee in a Homeric hymn. Ancient writers also believed bees were generated spontaneously from the carcasses of oxen, a belief Virgil describes at length in the Georgics, which added another layer of association with death and renewal. The name reached Christian Europe through Greek and was carried by a fourth-century saint and by characters in medieval romance.
Meaning
Greek melissa, a bee
Lissa is a short form of Melissa or Alissa. Melissa is Greek for a bee, from meli, honey, which is the same word as Latin mel and the source of mellifluous. Alissa is a variant of Alice, from Germanic adal, noble. Which lies behind a given bearer is not recoverable. It peaks in 1958.
How the name formed
- melissa
- Melissa
- Lissa
Related forms: Melissa · Alissa
Pronouncing Lissa
LIS-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first, short i. The doubled s marks the vowel short and is not a separate sound. Lisa, with one s, has a long i and is a different name.
Nicknames for Lissa
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
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 1963122 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #958reached in 1958
- Change vs 2023
- +20.0%12 in 2025, from 10
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.
Lissa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Melissa in Greek — related form
- Alissa in English — related form
Lissas among us
people named Lissa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Lissa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Felice test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lissa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Felice climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Felice's path sketches the road Lissa is walking now.
Lissa 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
Lissa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lissa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Greek meaning behind Melissa is settled and pleasant.
- It is short and easy to spell.
- It works as a full name or as a short form.
- Lisa is a near-homophone with a different vowel and is far more common.
- Which longer name it stands for is not recoverable.
- It reads as mid-twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Lissa
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lissas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Lissa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lissa in 2025?
- Lissa ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lissa?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Lissa — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lissa with classmates?
- Lissa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lissa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lissa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lissa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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