Maisha
Feminine · “Swahili "life”
Swahili sorts every noun into one of about fifteen classes, each with its own prefix, and the grammar agrees with all of them. Maisha, life, belongs to the ma- class, which handles abstractions and paired things — a system that does the work of gender with fifteen categories instead of two.
How old is the name Maisha?
Maisha first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Maisha alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 1,900 people named Maisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maisha most popular?
Maisha peaked in 1977, reaching #1118 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 6,767 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Where it comes from
From maisha to Maisha
The story of Maisha
Bantu noun classes are among the more elaborate agreement systems in the world's languages. Class 1 and 2 handle people, singular and plural; class 7 and 8 handle objects and take ki- and vi-, which is why Kiswahili is the language and Mswahili a Swahili person; class 5 and 6 take ji- and ma- and cover abstractions, liquids and paired items. The system is not arbitrary in origin, though it has drifted. For naming it means a Swahili name usually carries a visible class prefix, and readers of the language can tell what kind of thing the name denotes before they know what it means. Maisha entered American use in the 1970s and peaks in 1977.
Meaning
Swahili "life"
From Swahili maisha, life, in the ma- noun class, which covers abstract nouns, liquids, and things that come in groups. The word derives from a Bantu root for living. Swahili noun classes govern agreement across adjectives, verbs and possessives, so the class prefix on a noun is echoed throughout the sentence.
How the name formed
- maisha
- Maisha
Related forms: Maisha
Pronouncing Maisha
mah-EE-shah
Three syllables, stress on the second, with the ai as two separate vowels. English speakers usually say MY-shah with two syllables, which compresses the first vowel pair.
Nicknames for Maisha
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 1977114 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1118reached in 1977
- Change vs 2024
- −45.8%13 in 2025, from 24
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.
Maisha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maisha in Swahili — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Maishas among us
people named Maisha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Maisha
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 Marline test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maisha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marline climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marline's path sketches the road Maisha is walking now.
Maisha 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
Maisha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maisha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, short and entirely positive.
- Mai works as a short form.
- It is a genuine Swahili word rather than an invention.
- English speakers reduce the first two syllables to one.
- Meisha and Myesha are competing American spellings.
- It is rare in the United States and will need spelling out.
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What they receive
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Maisha
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maishas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Maisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maisha in 2025?
- Maisha ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maisha?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Maisha — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maisha with classmates?
- Maisha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maisha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maisha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maisha and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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