Nisa
Feminine · “women”
An-Nisa, The Women, is the fourth chapter of the Quran and one of its longest, and it is where much of Islamic family law is set out: inheritance, marriage, the treatment of orphans. Nisa is that word, and it carries a body of law behind it.
How old is the name Nisa?
Nisa first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Nisa alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,700 people named Nisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nisa most popular?
Nisa peaked in 1991, reaching #1575 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 4,971 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From nisa to Nisa
The story of Nisa
Sura An-Nisa runs to one hundred and seventy-six verses and is the source of a great deal of Islamic jurisprudence on women's property, marriage and inheritance rights; its opening verses concern orphans and its most-cited passages concern shares of an estate. Naming a daughter Nisa points at that chapter rather than at the word alone, which is why the name is used in Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Asia far more than in the Arab world. It also appears independently in African American naming and in Japanese records with entirely different sources. Nisa's best year in United States records is 1991.
Meaning
women
Arabic nisa is the plural of a word for woman, and it is a suppletive plural, meaning it comes from a different root than its singular, exactly as English people is unrelated to person. It is the title of the fourth sura of the Quran. The name is also used in Turkish and across South Asia, and a separate Nisa appears in Japanese and in African naming.
How the name formed
- nisa
- An-Nisa
- Nisa
Related forms: Nisa · Nisa · Nisa · Nisa
Pronouncing Nisa
NEE-sah
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Turkish and Indonesian give the same shape; English speakers sometimes say NY-sa with a long i, which is not how any source language says it.
Nicknames for Nisa
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
- 1953
- Most girls named
- 199197 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1575reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- −34.6%17 in 2025, from 26
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.
Nisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nisa in Arabic — same name
- Nisa in Turkish — same name
- Nisa in Indonesian — same name
- Nisa in Urdu — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Nisas among us
people named Nisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Nisa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nisa
- #6546
- Nisa on the 2025 chart
- #919
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nisa went to 17 girls in 2025, but Nysa, Nyza and Niza are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 41, which makes it the 919th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,627 places above the chart.
- Nisa17
- Nysa11
- Nyza8
- Niza5
About 1 girl in 39,202 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 94,545 for Nisa 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 Tonita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nisa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tonita climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tonita's path sketches the road Nisa is walking now.
Nisa 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
Nisa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nisa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning tied directly to a named chapter of the Quran.
- Four letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty anywhere.
- Recognized across Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Asia and the Arab world.
- English speakers will try a long i on first reading.
- Nissa, Nesa and Nisa all circulate and get confused.
- The word is a plural noun, which some families find odd for a single child.
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What they receive
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Nisa
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Nisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nisa?
- Nisa is the most-used spelling in US records — 17 of the 41 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Nysa, Nyza and Niza.
- How popular is the name Nisa in 2025?
- Nisa ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nisa?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Nisa — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nisa with classmates?
- Nisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nisa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nisa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nisa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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