Telisha
Feminine
The second half of Telisha can be cut from two completely unrelated names. It is the back of Alicia, which is Germanic by way of French; it is also the back of Elisha, which is Hebrew and belongs to a prophet. Nothing in the record says which, and the two have no connection whatever.
How old is the name Telisha?
Telisha first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Telisha alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 1,100 people named Telisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Telisha most popular?
Telisha peaked in 1980, reaching #1351 nationally. See the whole 1980 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Telisha
The Hebrew prophet in question performs the only miracle of its kind in the whole Bible. A borrowed axe head flies off its handle into the Jordan, the man who borrowed it is distraught because he cannot replace it, and the prophet cuts a stick, throws it in at the spot, and the iron floats. That is the entire episode. There is no lesson attached, no crowd, no enemy defeated; it is a small favor done for somebody in trouble over a tool that was not his. Biblical scholars have written a great deal about why it is there. The name at the front of that story and the name of a medieval Germanic noblewoman have arrived at the same three syllables in English, and there is no way to tell which one a family had in mind.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source and no meaning. The opening syllable is one of the productive American prefixes and carries nothing; the ending is a piece that came loose from longer names and could have come loose from either of two. Assigning the name to one of them would mean choosing without evidence.
Pronouncing Telisha
tuh-LEE-shuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The first and last vowels are reduced to nothing, which is why the record also holds Talisha, Tulisha and Telesha with no audible difference at all.
Nicknames for Telisha
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 198093 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1351reached in 1980
- Change vs 2006
- −14.3%6 in 2007, from 7
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.
Telishas among us
people named Telisha 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
Telisha 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
- The rhythm is the settled American one and the name sounds established rather than experimental.
- Lisha is a complete name sitting in the back half.
- Every sound in it is ordinary English and it is never mispronounced twice.
- Several spellings of the same sound circulate, so spelling it out never quite stops.
- It is closely dated to one American generation and reads as a mother's name.
- There is no meaning to give a child, and the two possible sources cancel each other out.
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Telisha
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Telishas 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 Telisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Telisha in 2025?
- Telisha is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Telisha with classmates?
- Telisha 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 Telisha? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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