Natisha
A feminine name of Native American Navajo origin meaning "born when leaves turn colors".
Name Census estimates that about 1,738 living Americans carry the first name Natisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Natisha today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Natisha births was 1980 (123 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Natisha. 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 Natisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 197,212 Americans
Peak year
1980
123 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2013 SSA rank
#18,480
Tracked since 1969
Census
Natisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,569 people with the first name Natisha, which placed it at #9,033 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
#9,033
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,569 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Natisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natisha is Black at 59.7%. The next largest groups are White (20.1%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Natisha 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 Natisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.7% · 937
- White20.1% · 316
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 146
- Two or more races5.8% · 91
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 43
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 36
Popularity
Natisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Natisha from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 840 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Natisha 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 Natisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Natishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Natisha, while Oklahoma, Mississippi, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Natisha
The name Natisha has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "nati," which means "dance" or "dancer." This connection suggests that the name may have been associated with dancers or performers in ancient Indian culture.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Natisha can be found in the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this text, Natisha is mentioned as the name of a celestial dancer who entertained the gods with her graceful movements.
During the medieval period, the name Natisha gained popularity among the ruling classes of various Indian kingdoms. One notable figure was Natisha Devi, a 12th-century queen of the Chahamana dynasty, who ruled over parts of present-day Rajasthan. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of temple construction.
In the 16th century, a famous Indian classical dancer named Natisha Nritya graced the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Her performances were widely celebrated, and she is credited with helping to preserve and promote the traditional dance forms of India during that era.
Another historical figure bearing the name Natisha was Natisha Bhatt, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet who lived in the 17th century. Her works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and philosophy, were highly regarded and influential in her time.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Natisha Kapoor was a prominent Indian social reformer and educator. She played a significant role in advocating for women's education and the abolition of regressive social practices, such as child marriage and the mistreatment of widows.
While the name Natisha has its roots in ancient Indian culture, it has also been adopted by various other communities around the world, each with their own unique interpretations and associations with the name. However, the connection to dance, grace, and artistic expression remains a common thread throughout its history.
People
Natisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Natisha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Natisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Natisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,738 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Natisha 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 197,212 US residents.
Is Natisha a common name?
We classify Natisha as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,860 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Natisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Natisha was 1980, when 123 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Natisha is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Natisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,569 people with the name Natisha, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,033 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 Natisha 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 Natisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Natisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,565 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Natisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natisha is Black at 59.7%. The next largest groups are White (20.1%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Natisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Natisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.7% (937 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 Natisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Natisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Natisha 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 Natisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Natisha 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 Natisha 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 Natisha as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.