Risa
Risa was given to 22 girls in 2025, #5,674 among girls’ names; 4,177 Americans have been recorded with it since 1942 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,770 Americans named Risa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 51 years old and half are between 33 and 64.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Risa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Risa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Risa is “a female given name from Japanese.”
Borrowed from Japanese りさ (Risa).
/ˈɹi(ː)zə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Risa?
#5,674 among girls’ names, 2025
Risa rose from #7,538 in 2015 to #5,674 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 9.0 to 13.7 per million.
131 babies in 1962, the peak
Risa peaked in 1962, when 131 girls were given it, #929 among girls’ names. The 22 births of 2025 are 17% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 22 | #5,674 | 13.7 |
| 2024 | 15 | #7,521 | 9.3 |
| 2023 | 11 | #9,477 | 6.9 |
| 2022 | 16 | #7,222 | 9.8 |
| 2021 | 14 | #7,948 | 8.5 |
| 2020 | 14 | #7,878 | 8.7 |
| 2019 | 20 | #6,137 | 11.9 |
| 2018 | 24 | #5,424 | 14.1 |
| 2017 | 23 | #5,631 | 13.3 |
| 2016 | 25 | #5,421 | 14.1 |
Every recorded year (84)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,538 | 9.0 |
| 2014 | 27 | #5,140 | 15.1 |
| 2013 | 17 | #7,310 | 9.7 |
| 2012 | 33 | #4,467 | 18.7 |
| 2011 | 30 | #4,786 | 17.1 |
| 2010 | 22 | #6,142 | 12.4 |
| 2009 | 22 | #6,264 | 12.0 |
| 2008 | 31 | #4,852 | 16.4 |
| 2007 | 30 | #4,915 | 15.6 |
| 2006 | 20 | #6,550 | 10.5 |
| 2005 | 25 | #5,221 | 13.5 |
| 2004 | 33 | #4,256 | 18.0 |
| 2003 | 46 | #3,218 | 25.2 |
| 2002 | 49 | #3,000 | 27.3 |
| 2001 | 32 | #4,005 | 17.8 |
| 2000 | 43 | #3,202 | 23.7 |
| 1999 | 36 | #3,487 | 20.3 |
| 1998 | 54 | #2,558 | 30.6 |
| 1997 | 39 | #3,086 | 22.4 |
| 1996 | 31 | #3,606 | 17.7 |
| 1995 | 54 | #2,409 | 30.7 |
| 1994 | 48 | #2,610 | 26.9 |
| 1993 | 37 | #3,143 | 20.5 |
| 1992 | 55 | #2,368 | 29.8 |
| 1991 | 49 | #2,534 | 26.1 |
| 1990 | 71 | #1,944 | 37.4 |
| 1989 | 45 | #2,554 | 24.4 |
| 1988 | 65 | #1,901 | 36.5 |
| 1987 | 44 | #2,385 | 25.3 |
| 1986 | 42 | #2,408 | 24.5 |
| 1985 | 50 | #2,126 | 29.1 |
| 1984 | 62 | #1,764 | 36.8 |
| 1983 | 62 | #1,746 | 37.1 |
| 1982 | 52 | #2,014 | 30.7 |
| 1981 | 65 | #1,751 | 39.0 |
| 1980 | 49 | #2,117 | 29.5 |
| 1979 | 62 | #1,761 | 38.6 |
| 1978 | 46 | #2,081 | 30.0 |
| 1977 | 48 | #2,020 | 31.3 |
| 1976 | 49 | #1,880 | 33.4 |
| 1975 | 59 | #1,650 | 40.5 |
| 1974 | 59 | #1,612 | 40.2 |
| 1973 | 51 | #1,748 | 35.0 |
| 1972 | 56 | #1,621 | 36.8 |
| 1971 | 76 | #1,402 | 45.7 |
| 1970 | 55 | #1,694 | 31.5 |
| 1969 | 75 | #1,313 | 44.5 |
| 1968 | 83 | #1,194 | 50.6 |
| 1967 | 76 | #1,225 | 46.0 |
| 1966 | 124 | #909 | 73.3 |
| 1965 | 119 | #936 | 67.4 |
| 1964 | 108 | #1,046 | 57.0 |
| 1963 | 119 | #979 | 61.7 |
| 1962 | 131 | #929 | 66.6 |
| 1961 | 113 | #1,029 | 56.0 |
| 1960 | 125 | #958 | 61.8 |
| 1959 | 105 | #1,044 | 51.9 |
| 1958 | 90 | #1,115 | 44.7 |
| 1957 | 74 | #1,226 | 36.2 |
| 1956 | 94 | #1,055 | 46.8 |
| 1955 | 93 | #1,048 | 47.6 |
| 1954 | 64 | #1,246 | 33.0 |
| 1953 | 46 | #1,453 | 24.5 |
| 1952 | 41 | #1,518 | 22.1 |
| 1951 | 39 | #1,516 | 21.7 |
| 1950 | 46 | #1,358 | 26.9 |
| 1949 | 48 | #1,332 | 28.1 |
| 1948 | 28 | #1,811 | 16.5 |
| 1947 | 33 | #1,689 | 18.6 |
| 1946 | 14 | #2,713 | 8.9 |
| 1945 | 29 | #1,537 | 22.2 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,742 | 9.0 |
| 1943 | 5 | #5,233 | 3.6 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,776 | 8.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Risa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Risa has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 84 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Risa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Risa, and how old are they?
3,770 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 4,177 Americans ever recorded as Risa. The median Risa alive today is 51 years old; half are between 33 and 64.
The 2020 Census counted 4,474 people named Risa (4,467 women and girls, 7 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,798 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 32 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,140 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 808 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 539 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 242 |
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 Risa born?
The states with the most babies named Risa are New York, California and Texas, with 80% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 813 | #2,361 | 2.5× |
| California | 388 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Texas | 151 | #3,696 | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 64 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New Jersey | 61 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 53 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 35 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Massachusetts | 35 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 20 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Indiana | 18 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Risa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Risa is most over-represented in New York: since 1942 it was given 2.5 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 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 Risa 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 5,720 babies since 1880, Risa is the most given (73% of them). In 2025 it was given to 22 of their 52 babies (42%), 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 Risa
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 Risa and names like it
- Compare Risa and RiseBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sRisa peaked in 1962.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Risa since 1910.
- Japanese namesWiktionary’s origin for Risa: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1962The year the most babies were named Risa.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Risa alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.