Telisa
Feminine
Telisa looks like it belongs to the wave of American names built in the 1970s and 1980s, and it does not. It was already in the record in the middle of the century, a full generation before the family it resembles arrived — which means the usual explanation for a name of this shape cannot be the explanation for this one.
How old is the name Telisa?
Telisa first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Telisa alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 1,000 people named Telisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Telisa most popular?
Telisa peaked in 1973, reaching #1805 nationally. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From appears in American records in the middle of the century to Telisa
The story of Telisa
Names built out of familiar sounds are usually explained by the decade that produced them: a productive prefix, a fashionable ending, a wave that carried hundreds of similar spellings at once. Telisa is a small but genuine problem for that explanation, because it was being given before the wave. It sits in the record through the 1950s and 1960s alongside names of an entirely different kind, and it peaked in the early 1970s, which is when the family it looks like was only beginning. Whatever produced it, it was not the pattern that produced its neighbors — and the record, which is very good at showing when, has never been any good at showing why.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The obvious guess is that Telisa is Teresa and Lisa run together, and it is only a guess. Lisa was not yet the name it became when Telisa first appears, which weakens the case rather than settling it. Other routes are equally possible: an ending that was already productive, a family name reshaped, a spelling heard once and copied. No reference work lists it and none ever will, because there is nothing to list. The name has a first appearance in the record and no ancestry, and those are two different things.
How the name formed
- appears in American records in the middle of the century
- predates the coinage wave it resembles
- peaks in the early 1970s
- shares an ending with a much larger later family
- rarely given today
Related forms: Talisa · Delisa
Pronouncing Telisa
tuh-LEE-suh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The first vowel is unstressed and almost silent, which is why Telisa, Talisa and Tolisa all sound the same and are spelled three ways.
Nicknames for Telisa
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
- 1956
- Most girls named
- 197347 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1805reached in 1973
- Change vs 2006
- +20.0%6 in 2007, from 5
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.
Telisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Talisa in English — spelling variant
- Delisa in English — related form
Telisas among us
people named Telisa 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
Telisa 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
- Nobody stumbles over it — the spelling and the sound match, and no letter does anything unexpected.
- Lisa is available inside it as a short form that needs no explanation anywhere in the world.
- It is genuinely rare without sounding invented, and it is older than most names of its shape.
- The unstressed first vowel is unwritable in English, so Talisa and Tolisa will both be used against her.
- There is no meaning and no origin to hand her, and the guesses people offer will be wrong.
- It is close enough to Teresa and Melissa that both will be substituted by people half-listening.
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Telisa
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Telisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Telisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Telisa in 2025?
- Telisa is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Telisa with classmates?
- Telisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Telisa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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