Taisa
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "life journey" or "wanderer".
Name Census estimates that about 140 living Americans carry the first name Taisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Taisa today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taisa births was 1985 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taisa. 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.
People living today
140
~ 1 in 2,448,245 Americans
Peak year
1985
18 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2009 SSA rank
#19,900
Tracked since 1968
Census
Taisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 400 people with the first name Taisa, which placed it at #24,171 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
#24,171
National first-name rank
People counted
400
400 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Taisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taisa is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Black (21.5%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Taisa 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 Taisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.0% · 268
- Black or African American21.5% · 86
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 26
- Two or more races3.8% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Taisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taisa from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Taisa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Taisa 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 Taisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Taisa
The name Taisa has its origins in the Russian language. It is a feminine form of the male Russian name Taisi, derived from the Greek name Thaïs. The name Thaïs was derived from the ancient Greek word "thaleia," meaning "the blooming one" or "the flourishing one."
In ancient Greek mythology, Thaïs was the name of a famous courtesan who accompanied Alexander the Great on his conquests. She was known for her beauty and intelligence, and her name became associated with elegance and sophistication. The earliest recorded examples of the name Taisa can be found in Russian historical records dating back to the 17th century.
One notable figure in history who bore the name Taisa was Taisa Afanasyevna Yelizarova (1735-1805), a Russian noblewoman and philanthropist. She was known for her charitable works and her support of education initiatives in her homeland. Another prominent Taisa was Taisa Andreyevna Fedorova (1900-1982), a Soviet actress and theater director who was widely celebrated for her performances on the stage.
In the realm of literature, the name Taisa appears in the works of Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In his novel "The Brothers Karamazov," one of the characters is named Taisiya, a variant of Taisa. This character is portrayed as a kind and gentle soul, reflecting the positive connotations associated with the name.
Another notable figure was Taisa Konstantinovna Fedorova (1897-1987), a Russian ballerina and choreographer who was renowned for her performances with the Bolshoi Ballet. Her contributions to the art of dance earned her numerous accolades and a place in the history of Russian ballet.
Lastly, Taisa Shcheglova (1894-1976) was a Russian artist and painter who was part of the avant-garde movement in the early 20th century. Her works, which often featured bold colors and abstract forms, were influential in the development of modern art in Russia.
People
Taisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taisa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Taisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 140 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taisa 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 2,448,245 US residents.
Is Taisa a common name?
We classify Taisa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 146 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Taisa was 1985, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taisa is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Taisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 400 people with the name Taisa, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,171 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 Taisa 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 Taisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Taisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 406 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Taisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taisa is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Black (21.5%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Taisa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Taisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.0% (268 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 Taisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Taisa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taisa 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 Taisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Taisa 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 Taisa 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 common is the name Taisa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.