Nafisa
Feminine · “Arabic "precious”
Nafisa al-Tahira, who died in Cairo in 824, taught hadith to men — including, by the standard accounts, the jurist al-Shafi'i, founder of one of the four Sunni schools of law, who asked that her funeral prayers be said over him. She is said to have dug her own grave.
How old is the name Nafisa?
Nafisa first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Nafisa alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 600 people named Nafisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nafisa most popular?
Nafisa peaked in 2024, reaching #4387 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 3,104 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From nafīs to Nafisa
The story of Nafisa
Sayyida Nafisa was a great-granddaughter of Hasan, and she settled in Fustat, the early Islamic city that became Cairo, where she became known as a teacher and ascetic. The reports about her are unusually consistent about one thing: men of standing attended her lectures. Al-Shafi'i, whose legal school is followed by much of the Muslim world, is recorded as studying with her and as having his funeral prayer said in her presence. Her tomb in Cairo remains a major shrine and gave its name to the district around it. The name is used across the Arab world, South Asia and East Africa; the American figures peak in 2024.
Meaning
Arabic "precious, valuable"
From Arabic nafīsa, the feminine of nafīs, precious or highly valued, from a root carrying the sense of what is competed for and treasured. The related nafs means the self or soul, and the connection runs through the idea of what one holds dear. Nafisa, Nafeesa and Nafeeza are all transliterations of the same word.
How the name formed
- nafīs
- nafīsa
- Nafisa
Related forms: نفيسة · نفیسہ · Nafeesa
Pronouncing Nafisa
nah-FEE-sah
Three syllables, stress on the second, with a long ee. English speakers often say nuh-FISS-uh, shortening the middle vowel, which changes the word.
Nicknames for Nafisa
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 202432 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4387reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −56.3%14 in 2025, from 32
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.
Nafisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- نفيسة in Arabic — transliteration
- نفیسہ in Urdu — transliteration
- Nafeesa in English — spelling variant
Nafisas among us
people named Nafisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Nafisa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nafisa
- #7491
- Nafisa on the 2025 chart
- #941
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nafisa went to 14 girls in 2025, but Nafisah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 19, which makes it the 941st most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,550 places above the chart.
- Nafisa14
- Nafisah5
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 114,805 for Nafisa 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 Rheagan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nafisa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rheagan climbed just as high around 2004, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rheagan's path sketches the road Nafisa is walking now.
Nafisa 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
Nafisa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nafisa 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 generous: precious.
- It carries a documented and remarkable historical bearer.
- It is used across the Arab world, South Asia and East Africa.
- Nafeesa and Nafisah are competing transliterations.
- English speakers shorten the stressed vowel.
- It is rare in the United States and will need spelling out.
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Nafisa
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nafisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Nafisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nafisa?
- Nafisa is the most-used spelling in US records — 14 of the 19 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Nafisah.
- How popular is the name Nafisa in 2025?
- Nafisa ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nafisa?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Nafisa — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nafisa with classmates?
- Nafisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nafisa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nafisa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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