Neysa
Feminine
Neysa is one of the very few names whose maker, date and reason are all known. A young American illustrator was told by a numerologist that her name was holding her back, so she changed it, kept the new one for the rest of her life, and became famous enough that other people started using it.
How old is the name Neysa?
Neysa first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Neysa alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 1,100 people named Neysa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Neysa most popular?
Neysa peaked in 1946, reaching #1723 nationally. See the whole 1946 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Neysa
She was born Marjorie in Illinois, went to Chicago and then to New York to draw, and consulted a numerologist who told her the name she had was unlucky. She took Neysa, kept the surname, and went on to paint magazine covers by the hundred through the twenties and thirties, in a studio that became one of the places New York's writers and cartoonists spent their afternoons. Among the faces she painted was one that had never existed: a flour company had invented a woman to sign its replies to customers, and when it wanted a portrait of her it was this illustrator who made one, giving a face to a brand that still uses one. Her own name spread the ordinary way, from a person who was often in print to families who liked the look of it, and it was never anything but hers to begin with.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is nothing to trace, because the name was made rather than inherited. It was chosen for its sound and its letters, on advice about what those letters were supposed to do, and it has no source language. That is unusual only in being documented; a great many names were made the same way and left no record of it.
Pronouncing Neysa
NEE-suh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The ey writes a long e, which is one of its several English values; some families say NAY-suh instead, treating the ey as in they, and the spelling supports that reading too.
Nicknames for Neysa
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 197626 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1723reached in 1946
- Change vs 2020
- −35.7%9 in 2022, from 14
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.
Neysas among us
people named Neysa 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
Neysa 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
- Short, soft and easy to say, with nothing in it that gives an English speaker trouble.
- It has a documented origin story with a name, a date and a reason, which is rare for any name.
- The spelling is unusual without being difficult once it has been seen.
- The ey has two live readings and the spelling settles neither, so the name has to be introduced.
- It will be written Nisa and Nissa by people spelling from dictation.
- There is no meaning at all, which is a short answer but not always a satisfying one.
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Neysa
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Neysas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Neysa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Neysa in 2025?
- Neysa is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Neysa with classmates?
- Neysa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nancy#965 · Nicole#382 · Natalie#89 · Norma#2002 · Nora#20 · Naomi#47 · Nellie#533 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Neysa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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