Enisa
A feminine name of Albanian origin meaning "was born".
Name Census estimates that about 133 living Americans carry the first name Enisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Enisa today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Enisa births was 2023 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Enisa. 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 Enisa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
133
~ 1 in 2,577,100 Americans
Peak year
2023
12 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,083
Tracked since 1987
Census
Enisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 545 people with the first name Enisa, which placed it at #19,414 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
#19,414
National first-name rank
People counted
545
545 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Enisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Enisa is White at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.2%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Enisa 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 Enisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.9% · 490
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 23
- Black or African American3.3% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 6
- Two or more races1.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Enisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Enisa from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 45 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Enisa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Enisa 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 Enisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Enisas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Enisa
The name Enisa has its origins in the Turkish and Arabic languages, with roots dating back to the medieval period. In Turkish, the name is derived from the word "enis," which means "friendly" or "companionable." In Arabic, it is believed to be a variation of the name "Anisa," which means "intimate friend" or "close companion."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Enisa can be found in the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century. It was a popular name among Turkish and Arabic-speaking communities, often bestowed upon girls as a symbolic representation of friendship and camaraderie.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Enisa. One such person was Enisa Esmer (1891-1976), a Turkish feminist activist and writer who played a pivotal role in advocating for women's rights and education in the early 20th century. Another notable figure was Enisa Mahmić (1911-1991), a Bosnian writer and poet whose works explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
In the realm of sports, Enisa Lisin (born 1987) is a Serbian basketball player who has represented her country in international competitions and played for various professional teams across Europe. Enisa Nikaj (born 1989) is an Albanian singer and songwriter known for her contribution to the pop and R&B genres in her home country.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Enisa in literature can be found in the Ottoman Turkish novel "Intibah" ("Awakening") by Namık Kemal, published in 1876. The novel's protagonist, Enisa, is a strong-willed and independent woman who challenges societal norms and traditions, reflecting the progressive ideals of the author.
While the name Enisa has its roots in the Turkish and Arabic cultures, it has gained popularity across various regions and ethnicities over the centuries, transcending cultural boundaries and becoming a name celebrated for its connotations of friendship, intimacy, and companionship.
People
Enisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Enisa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Enisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Enisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 133 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Enisa 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 2,577,100 US residents.
Is Enisa a common name?
We classify Enisa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Enisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Enisa was 2023, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Enisa is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Enisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 545 people with the name Enisa, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,414 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 Enisa 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 Enisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Enisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 539 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Enisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Enisa is White at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.2%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Enisa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Enisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.9% (490 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 Enisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Enisa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Enisa 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 Enisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Enisa 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 Enisa 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 Americans are named Enisa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.