Lissa
A diminutive form of the name Elizabeth, of Greek origin meaning "consecrated to God".
Name Census estimates that about 3,364 living Americans carry the first name Lissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lissa today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lissa births was 1963 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lissa. 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 Lissa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 101,889 Americans
Peak year
1963
122 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,786
Tracked since 1923
Census
Lissa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,254 people with the first name Lissa, which placed it at #4,407 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
#4,407
National first-name rank
People counted
4.3K
4,254 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lissa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lissa is White at 67.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.9%) and Black (7.4%). 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 Lissa 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 Lissa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.5% · 2,870
- Hispanic or Latino17.9% · 760
- Black or African American7.4% · 313
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 143
- Two or more races3.3% · 139
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 29
Popularity
Lissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lissa from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 989 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lissa 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 Lissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lissas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Lissa, while Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lissa
The name Lissa is a diminutive form of the feminine name Elizabeth, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath" or "God is abundance." The name Elizabeth itself is derived from the Hebrew elements "El" meaning "God" and "shava" meaning "oath" or "abundance."
Lissa gained popularity as a shortened version of Elizabeth during the Middle Ages in various European countries, particularly in England, France, and Germany. It was often used as a nickname or diminutive form to distinguish between multiple individuals named Elizabeth.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lissa can be found in the 13th-century English text, "The Owl and the Nightingale," where it appears as a character name. In the 14th century, Lissa was also mentioned in the Italian literary work "The Decameron" by Giovanni Boccaccio.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lissa. One of the earliest examples is Lissa de Gattilusio (c. 1350-1397), a Byzantine princess who was the daughter of Francesco I Gattilusio, the Lord of Lesbos. Another prominent figure was Lissa de Almeria (c. 1370-1435), a Spanish noblewoman and philanthropist who founded several religious institutions in Almeria, Spain.
In the 16th century, Lissa Strozzi (1528-1591) was an Italian Renaissance poet and writer who contributed to the development of the madrigal form. During the 17th century, Lissa Moreau (1610-1679) was a French playwright and author known for her tragedies and comedies.
A more recent historical figure was Lissa Skene (1865-1952), a Scottish artist and painter who was renowned for her landscape and portrait works, many of which are displayed in the National Galleries of Scotland.
These examples showcase the rich history and diverse cultural backgrounds associated with the name Lissa, which has been used across various regions and time periods, from medieval Europe to the Renaissance and beyond.
People
Lissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lissa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,364 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lissa 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 101,889 US residents.
Is Lissa a common name?
We classify Lissa as "Rare". It ranks above 95.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,966 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Lissa was 1963, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lissa is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lissa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,254 people with the name Lissa, or 1.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,407 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 Lissa 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 Lissa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lissa appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,260 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 Lissa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lissa is White at 67.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.9%) and Black (7.4%). 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 Lissa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lissa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.5% (2,870 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 Lissa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lissa 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 Lissa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lissa 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 Lissa 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 Lissa as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.