Recorded 1963–2018 Girls' name Peak 1980 1,187 births

Mesha — girls' name

1,187 babies named Mesha in U.S. Social Security records since 1963, with the highest year being 1980. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.

1960s481970s3331980s3701990s2882000s1182010s30
1980s
Peak decade

31% of everyone ever named Mesha was born in this single decade.

1980
Single peak year

55 babies were named Mesha in 1980 — its busiest year on record.

What the Data Says About Mesha

The Social Security Administration has registered 1,187 babies named Mesha between 1963 and 2018, spanning 56 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Mesha currently falls outside the top 1,000 girls' names for 2018. The name reached its historical peak in 1980, when 55 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Mesha performed strongest in the 1980s, accumulating 370 births during that ten-year window. Across the 6 decades of recorded activity, Mesha shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in California, which accounts for 56 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by Texas and Illinois. In total, SSA state-level files list Mesha in 8 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Mesha in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 1,187 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.

Mesha at a glance

Last recorded 2018

Total births

1,187

Since 1963

56 years of records

Peak year

1980

55 births that year

Strongest decade: 1980s

Current rank

Unranked

Outside the modern top-1,000

As of 2018

Active since

1963

Recorded for 56 years

Last year on file: 2018

Mesha popularity over time

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2018–1963

Last recorded 2018
Peak year (1980)
55
Annual births at peak — across 56 years of records
0204060 20182007200019931986197919721963 8

Mesha by decade

Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance

Peak: 1980s
Peak decade
1980s
370 births that decade — 31% of Mesha's all-time total
1960s481970s3331980s3701990s2882000s1182010s30

Mesha by state

Where Mesha concentrates geographically — total births since 1963

Geographically diffuse
Top 8 states by recorded births for the name Mesha
Rank State Visual share Births Share of total
#1 California
56 4.7%
#2 Texas
30 2.5%
#3 Illinois
17 1.4%
#4 Ohio
14 1.2%
#5 North Carolina
11 0.9%
#6 Alabama
10 0.8%
#7 Michigan
10 0.8%
#8 Georgia
6 0.5%
California share of Mesha's total US births 4.7%
Even split

56 of 1,187 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 8 reporting states.

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Mesha?
1,187 babies have been named Mesha since 1963. It was last recorded in 2018. The peak year was 1980 with 55 births.
When was Mesha most popular?
Mesha was most popular in the 1980s decade with 370 total births. The single peak year was 1980.
Where is Mesha most popular?
The top states for the name Mesha are California (56 births), Texas (30 births), Illinois (17 births).
How long has the name Mesha been used?
Mesha has been recorded in Social Security data since 1963, spanning 56 years of data through 2018.
What names are similar to Mesha?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Messiah, Mesa, Meshell, Meshelle, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for girls.

Data Sources

Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1963–2018 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.

State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.