Issa
Issa is given to both girls and boys: 59 girls and 98 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,871 among girls’ names and #1,682 among boys’, #2,615 among all names counting both); 3,217 Americans have been recorded with it since 1969 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,160 Americans named Issa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 5 and 24.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Issa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Issa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Issa is “a male given name from Arabic.” Its etymology gives the sense “Jesus” (عيسى).
From Arabic عيسى (“Jesus”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Issa?
#1,682 among boys’ names, 2025
Issa rose from #2,395 in 2015 to #1,682 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 28.2 to 57.4 per million.
196 babies in 2024, the peak
Issa peaked in 2024, when 196 babies were given it (115 boys, #1,535 among boys’ names). The 157 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 80% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 59 | #2,871 | 98 | #1,682 |
| 2024 | 81 | #2,291 | 115 | #1,535 |
| 2023 | 61 | #2,798 | 109 | #1,595 |
| 2022 | 74 | #2,454 | 92 | #1,787 |
| 2021 | 59 | #2,864 | 84 | #1,844 |
| 2020 | 54 | #2,990 | 88 | #1,754 |
| 2019 | 57 | #2,902 | 73 | #2,007 |
| 2018 | 53 | #3,074 | 87 | #1,767 |
| 2017 | 41 | #3,729 | 64 | #2,140 |
| 2016 | 26 | #5,194 | 81 | #1,850 |
Every recorded year (56)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 28 | #4,904 | 54 | #2,395 |
| 2014 | 21 | #6,078 | 71 | #2,008 |
| 2013 | 20 | #6,340 | 58 | #2,236 |
| 2012 | 15 | #7,975 | 66 | #2,077 |
| 2011 | 14 | #8,359 | 56 | #2,295 |
| 2010 | 24 | #5,689 | 55 | #2,338 |
| 2009 | 17 | #7,469 | 46 | #2,673 |
| 2008 | 14 | #8,682 | 49 | #2,560 |
| 2007 | 18 | #7,201 | 68 | #2,044 |
| 2006 | 9 | #11,800 | 45 | #2,635 |
| 2005 | 8 | #12,261 | 62 | #2,016 |
| 2004 | 12 | #8,903 | 38 | #2,761 |
| 2003 | 11 | #9,290 | 52 | #2,134 |
| 2002 | 13 | #7,995 | 40 | #2,478 |
| 2001 | 17 | #6,435 | 37 | #2,577 |
| 2000 | 7 | #12,283 | 27 | #3,171 |
| 1999 | 9 | #9,793 | 31 | #2,747 |
| 1998 | under 5 | 30 | #2,735 | |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,157 | 29 | #2,698 |
| 1996 | 11 | #7,779 | 30 | #2,556 |
| 1995 | 6 | #12,343 | 36 | #2,225 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 32 | #2,407 | |
| 1993 | 7 | #11,003 | 25 | #2,808 |
| 1992 | 10 | #8,303 | 28 | #2,560 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,191 | 26 | #2,629 |
| 1990 | 5 | #13,793 | 29 | #2,393 |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,351 | 24 | #2,638 |
| 1988 | 6 | #10,848 | 15 | #3,416 |
| 1987 | 6 | #10,338 | 12 | #3,825 |
| 1986 | under 5 | 16 | #3,047 | |
| 1985 | 9 | #7,167 | 14 | #3,284 |
| 1984 | under 5 | 10 | #4,033 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 18 | #2,612 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 17 | #2,754 | |
| 1981 | 5 | #10,992 | 23 | #2,231 |
| 1980 | under 5 | 16 | #2,880 | |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,406 | 18 | #2,627 |
| 1978 | under 5 | 20 | #2,320 | |
| 1977 | 6 | #8,842 | 12 | #3,278 |
| 1976 | under 5 | 8 | #4,171 | |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,355 | 16 | #2,578 |
| 1974 | under 5 | 11 | #3,210 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 9 | #3,552 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 8 | #3,771 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 5 | #5,236 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 5 | #4,665 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Issa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,217 Americans recorded as Issa, 29% are girls and 71% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Issa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Issa, and how old are they?
3,160 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 3,217 Americans ever recorded as Issa. The median Issa alive today is 12 years old; half are between 5 and 24.
The 2020 Census counted 4,017 people named Issa (779 women and girls, 3,238 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,241 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Issa rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 133 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 417 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 914 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,700 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Issa born?
The states with the most babies named Issa are California, New York and Texas, with 62% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 21 | #2,310 | 1.1× |
| New York | 16 | #1,078 | 1.5× |
| Texas | 14 | #1,811 | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 13 | #613 | 1.5× |
| Ohio | 8 | #973 | 0.4× |
| New Jersey | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Georgia | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Issa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Issa is most over-represented in Michigan: since 1969 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Issa with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 38,008 babies since 1880, Issa is the third most given (8.5% of them). In 2025 it was given to 157 of their 492 babies (32%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Issa
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Issa and names like it
- Compare Issa and IsiahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sIssa peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Issa since 1910.
- Arabic namesWiktionary’s origin for Issa: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Issa.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Issa alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with IMost given first.