Raisa
Feminine · “rose”
Raisa is Yiddish for a rose and Arabic for a woman in charge — two unrelated languages arriving at the same four letters.
How old is the name Raisa?
Raisa first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Raisa alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 1,300 people named Raisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Raisa most popular?
Raisa peaked in 1988, reaching #1454 nationally. Today it ranks #4546, 3,092 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Raisa
Ours, offered as ours. Arabic ra'is is the ordinary word for a head or chief and is the title used for a president across the Arab world; the feminine ra'isa means exactly the same thing about a woman. Very few names in any language mean simply the one in charge, and fewer still are given to girls. Whether a particular Raisa is that or the Yiddish rose depends entirely on the family.
Meaningscholars disagree
rose; or leader, chief
Yiddish Reyze, from the Germanic word for a rose, gives the Slavic Raisa used in Jewish communities. Arabic ra'isa is the feminine of ra'is, a chief or president. A Greek origin from a word for easy is also offered.
Pronouncing Raisa
rah-EE-sah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. English speakers often say RY-suh.
Nicknames for Raisa
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 198894 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1454reached in 1988
- Change vs 2024
- +7.1%30 in 2025, from 28
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.
Raisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Reyze in Yiddish — related form
- Ra'isa in Arabic — related form
- Раиса in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Raisas among us
people named Raisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was named Raisa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Raisa
- #4546
- Raisa on the 2025 chart
- #924
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Raisa went to 30 girls in 2025, but Raiza is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 36, which makes it the 924th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,622 places above the chart.
- Raisa30
- Raiza6
About 1 girl in 44,646 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 53,576 for Raisa 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 Jenise test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Raisa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jenise climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jenise's path sketches the road Raisa is walking now.
Raisa 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
Where Raisa is headed
Raisa should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Raisa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Raisa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two large traditions produce it and both meanings are good.
- Raya is a warm established short form with its own record.
- Five letters and three syllables, quick to write.
- The number of syllables is unsettled between two and three in English.
- The two possible sources are entirely unrelated.
- Raisa, Raissa and Rayisa are all in use and mark different communities.
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What they receive
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Raisa
Feminine · #4546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Raisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Raisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Raisa?
- Raisa is the most-used spelling in US records — 30 of the 36 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Raiza.
- How popular is the name Raisa in 2025?
- Raisa ranks #4546 among US girl names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Raisa?
- About 1 in every 53,576 US girls born in 2025 was named Raisa — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Raisa with classmates?
- Raisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Raisa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amie#4546 · Rashell#4546 · Renatta#4546 · Amena#4546 · Aryn#4546 · Nadiya#4546 · Jasleen#4546 · Jeanne#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Raisa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Raisa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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