Nyssa
Feminine · “of Nyssa”
Nyssa is a town in Cappadocia, and it survives in the world's memory for one reason: Gregory of Nyssa, the fourth-century bishop and theologian, is always named with his see attached. The name is a place borrowed from a man's title.
How old is the name Nyssa?
Nyssa first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Nyssa alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 1,800 people named Nyssa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nyssa most popular?
Nyssa peaked in 2003, reaching #1720 nationally. Today it ranks #6325, 4,605 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Where it comes from
From Nysa to Nyssa
The story of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa was one of the three Cappadocian Fathers, and his see is attached to his name in every theological index ever printed, which kept an otherwise obscure Anatolian town in continuous circulation for sixteen centuries. Botanists took the other Nysa, the nymph, for a genus of trees that grow with their roots in water, giving the American tupelo its formal name. The given name arrives in United States records in the twentieth century, and its rise is helped by a science-fiction character introduced in 1981, which is where most British bearers of the name came from. Its best American year is 2003.
Meaningscholars disagree
of Nyssa, a town in Cappadocia
The place name itself is not securely explained and may be pre-Greek Anatolian. A separate and genuinely different source is the Greek Nysa, the legendary mountain where the nymphs raised the infant Dionysus, which is why the tupelo tree genus is called Nyssa, named after a water nymph. The modern name may descend from either, and in American use it often descends from neither, being a y-spelling of Nissa.
How the name formed
- Nysa
- Nyssa
Related forms: Nysa · Nissa · Nyssa
Pronouncing Nyssa
NISS-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a short i. The y is doing the job of an i here, as it does in Greek loanwords generally; it never says a long i.
Nicknames for Nyssa
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 2003110 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1720reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%18 in 2025, from 12
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.
Nyssa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nysa in Greek — related form
- Nissa in English — spelling variant
- Nyssa in Latin — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Nyssas among us
people named Nyssa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 89,293 born in 2025 was named Nyssa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nyssa
- #6325
- Nyssa on the 2025 chart
- #937
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nyssa went to 18 girls in 2025, but Nissa is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 23, which makes it the 937th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,388 places above the chart.
- Nyssa18
- Nissa5
About 1 girl in 69,881 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 89,293 for Nyssa 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 Kateri test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nyssa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kateri climbed just as high around 1980, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kateri's path sketches the road Nyssa is walking now.
Nyssa 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
Nyssa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nyssa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, crisp and easy to say, with a hard s that most soft girls' names lack.
- Attached to a real place, a real theologian and a real genus of trees.
- The y makes it visually distinct from Nissa without changing the sound.
- The y invites a first-attempt NYE-suh from readers who do not know the Greek convention.
- Nissa, Nisa and Nyssa all circulate.
- The connection to the place is entirely a matter of a bishop's title, not of the town's own fame.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Nyssa to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Nyssa? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Nyssa
Feminine · #6325 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nyssas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Nyssa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nyssa?
- Nyssa is the most-used spelling in US records — 18 of the 23 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Nissa.
- How popular is the name Nyssa in 2025?
- Nyssa ranks #6325 among US girl names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nyssa?
- About 1 in every 89,293 US girls born in 2025 was named Nyssa — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nyssa with classmates?
- Nyssa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nyssa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kaye#6325 · Doria#6325 · Karolyn#6325 · Rosaleen#6325 · Roni#6325 · Darian#6325 · Svetlana#6325 · Fanny#6325
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nyssa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nyssa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle