Alyssa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "rational, logical".
Name Census estimates that about 305,968 living Americans carry the first name Alyssa. It sits at #399 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alyssa today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alyssa births was 1999 (14,050 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alyssa. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alyssa with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Alyssa is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 432 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Alyssa have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
306K
~ 1 in 1,120 Americans
Peak year
1999
14,050 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2014 SSA rank
#399
Tracked since 1950
Census
Alyssa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 274,551 people with the first name Alyssa, which placed it at #195 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#195
National first-name rank
People counted
275K
274,551 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
90.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alyssa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alyssa is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.0%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Alyssa described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Alyssa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.9% · 178,315
- Hispanic or Latino21.0% · 57,603
- Two or more races5.3% · 14,469
- Black or African American4.7% · 12,933
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 9,250
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1,981
Gender
Gender distribution for Alyssa
Out of the 314,344 babies given the name Alyssa since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Alyssa as a male name
- Ranked #8,826 in 2014
- 8 male births in 2014
- Peak: 2004 (45 births)
Alyssa as a female name
- Ranked #399 in 2024
- 793 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (14,036 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alyssa appears almost entirely female. Of the 274,552 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alyssa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alyssa from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 115,389 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alyssa by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Alyssa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alyssas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alyssa, while District of Columbia, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,130 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alyssa
The name Alyssa has its origins in the Greek language and is a feminine form of the name Alyssos, which was a masculine name derived from the word "alysso" meaning "to go mad" or "to be demented." The name was likely chosen in ancient times to ward off madness or mental illness.
In Greek mythology, Alyssa was the name of a Sicilian nymph who was transformed into a stream after refusing the advances of the god Vertumnus. This mythological figure is one of the earliest recorded instances of the name's use.
The name Alyssa gained popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in France and Italy, where it was sometimes spelled as Alisia or Alycia. During this time, the name was often associated with nobility and was borne by several members of the aristocracy.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Alyssa was Alyssa of Ferrara, an Italian noblewoman born in 1265 who served as a patron of the arts and supported the work of famous poets and artists of her time.
In the 16th century, Alyssa Pico della Mirandola (1508-1589), an Italian philosopher and writer, gained recognition for her work in promoting the education of women and challenging the traditional gender roles of her era.
During the Renaissance period, the name Alyssa was also borne by Alyssa Gonzaga (1549-1626), an Italian noble and patron of the arts who was known for her support of artists and intellectuals.
In the 19th century, Alyssa Browning (1838-1912), an American social reformer and activist, worked tirelessly for the advancement of women's rights and the abolition of slavery.
Another notable figure with the name Alyssa was Alyssa Toklas (1877-1967), an American writer and partner of the famous writer Gertrude Stein, who played a significant role in the Parisian art and literary scene of the early 20th century.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alyssa
People
Alyssa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alyssa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Alyssa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alyssa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 305,968 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alyssa going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,120 US residents.
Is Alyssa a common name?
We classify Alyssa as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 314,344 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alyssa most popular?
The single biggest year for Alyssa was 1999, when 14,050 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alyssa is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alyssa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 274,551 people with the name Alyssa, or 90.90 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #195 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Alyssa in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Alyssa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alyssa appears almost entirely female. Of the 274,552 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Alyssa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alyssa is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.0%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Alyssa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alyssa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (178,315 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Alyssa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alyssa a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Alyssa in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Alyssa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alyssa in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Alyssa can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Alyssa?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Alyssa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.