Misha
Misha is given to both girls and boys: 49 girls and 11 boys were given it in 2025 (#3,236 among girls’ names and #7,512 among boys’, #5,006 among all names counting both); 4,858 Americans have been recorded with it since 1954 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,730 Americans named Misha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 11 and 41.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Misha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Misha mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Misha is “a female given name from Russian.”
Also “a male given name from Russian, Ukrainian.”
A transliteration of the Russian Ми́ша (Míša), a hypocoristic for Михаи́л (Mixaíl), the Russian equivalent of Michael, from Hebrew מיכאל. Also a female name, presumably analogous to Michelle.
/ˈmɪʃ.ɑː/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Misha?
#3,236 among girls’ names, 2025
Misha fell from #2,398 in 2015 to #3,236 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 43.1 to 30.5 per million.
142 babies in 1991, the peak
Misha peaked in 1991, when 142 babies were given it (135 girls, #1,251 among girls’ names). The 60 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 42% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 49 | #3,236 | 11 | #7,512 |
| 2024 | 83 | #2,258 | 19 | #5,187 |
| 2023 | 82 | #2,264 | 22 | #4,685 |
| 2022 | 105 | #1,914 | 26 | #4,151 |
| 2021 | 85 | #2,205 | 38 | #3,157 |
| 2020 | 90 | #2,059 | 27 | #3,884 |
| 2019 | 101 | #1,946 | 24 | #4,295 |
| 2018 | 98 | #2,007 | 25 | #4,173 |
| 2017 | 117 | #1,788 | 20 | #4,873 |
| 2016 | 71 | #2,533 | 14 | #6,234 |
Every recorded year (67)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 77 | #2,398 | 22 | #4,494 |
| 2014 | 72 | #2,508 | 9 | #8,568 |
| 2013 | 84 | #2,228 | 11 | #7,375 |
| 2012 | 98 | #1,994 | 14 | #6,203 |
| 2011 | 77 | #2,408 | 6 | #11,792 |
| 2010 | 73 | #2,532 | 12 | #6,953 |
| 2009 | 110 | #1,911 | 10 | #8,101 |
| 2008 | 88 | #2,247 | 7 | #10,651 |
| 2007 | 96 | #2,112 | 8 | #9,460 |
| 2006 | 81 | #2,339 | 6 | #11,583 |
| 2005 | 83 | #2,219 | 15 | #5,476 |
| 2004 | 68 | #2,496 | 7 | #9,609 |
| 2003 | 30 | #4,382 | 6 | #10,438 |
| 2002 | 40 | #3,442 | 11 | #6,378 |
| 2001 | 30 | #4,164 | 11 | #6,286 |
| 2000 | 30 | #4,136 | 5 | #11,578 |
| 1999 | 27 | #4,263 | 9 | #6,911 |
| 1998 | 33 | #3,610 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 47 | #2,683 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 56 | #2,359 | 13 | #4,790 |
| 1995 | 62 | #2,171 | 13 | #4,704 |
| 1994 | 61 | #2,198 | 6 | #8,443 |
| 1993 | 82 | #1,787 | 23 | #2,992 |
| 1992 | 104 | #1,516 | 7 | #7,154 |
| 1991 | 135 | #1,251 | 7 | #7,021 |
| 1990 | 126 | #1,293 | 11 | #4,885 |
| 1989 | 113 | #1,361 | 9 | #5,446 |
| 1988 | 60 | #1,999 | 6 | #6,974 |
| 1987 | 75 | #1,640 | 7 | #5,880 |
| 1986 | 67 | #1,746 | 6 | #6,456 |
| 1985 | 52 | #2,064 | 9 | #4,563 |
| 1984 | 58 | #1,857 | 11 | #3,845 |
| 1983 | 60 | #1,788 | 6 | #5,976 |
| 1982 | 70 | #1,648 | 11 | #3,864 |
| 1981 | 81 | #1,496 | 11 | #3,769 |
| 1980 | 103 | #1,264 | 9 | #4,381 |
| 1979 | 94 | #1,330 | 6 | #5,819 |
| 1978 | 53 | #1,882 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 58 | #1,769 | 5 | #6,510 |
| 1976 | 67 | #1,530 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 60 | #1,635 | 6 | #5,239 |
| 1974 | 59 | #1,609 | 5 | #5,738 |
| 1973 | 49 | #1,784 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 83 | #1,252 | 8 | #3,844 |
| 1971 | 52 | #1,746 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 40 | #2,068 | 8 | #3,727 |
| 1969 | 32 | #2,284 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 24 | #2,601 | 5 | #4,541 |
| 1967 | 11 | #4,216 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 20 | #2,813 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 14 | #3,496 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 15 | #3,466 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,712 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 5 | #7,237 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 10 | #4,372 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 6 | #6,019 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,549 | under 5 |
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 Misha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 4,858 Americans recorded as Misha, 88% are girls and 12% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Misha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Misha, and how old are they?
4,730 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 4,858 Americans ever recorded as Misha. The median Misha alive today is 26 years old; half are between 11 and 41.
The 2020 Census counted 4,924 people named Misha (4,039 women and girls, 885 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,159 born in the U.S. The Census count is 18% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 42 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 815 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,380 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,130 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,370 |
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 Misha born?
The states with the most babies named Misha are California, Texas and Florida, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 9 | #2,224 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 5 | #3,647 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 5 | #2,388 | 0.3× |
Where Misha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Misha is most over-represented in California: since 1954 it was given 1.2 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 girls’ 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 Misha 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 14,828 babies since 1880, Misha is the most given (33% of them). In 2025 it was given to 60 of their 75 babies (80%), again the most given.
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 Misha
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 Misha and names like it
- Compare Misha and MyeshaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sMisha peaked in 1991.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Misha since 1910.
- Russian namesWiktionary’s origin for Misha: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Misha.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Misha alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with MMost given first.