Aishah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "life" or "alive".
Name Census estimates that about 1,221 living Americans carry the first name Aishah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aishah today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aishah births was 2003 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aishah. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aishah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 280,716 Americans
Peak year
2003
43 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,952
Tracked since 1963
Census
Aishah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,086 people with the first name Aishah, which placed it at #11,690 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
#11,690
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,086 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aishah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aishah is Black at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (24.3%) and White (12.4%). 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 Aishah 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 Aishah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.3% · 503
- Asian and Pacific Islander24.3% · 264
- White12.4% · 135
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 104
- Two or more races7.1% · 77
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Popularity
Aishah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aishah from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 313 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aishah 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 Aishah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aishahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Aishah, while Florida, Texas, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aishah
The name Aishah has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the root word 'aysh', which means 'life' or 'to live'. It is a feminine name that has been popular in the Islamic world for centuries.
Aishah is most notably associated with Aishah bint Abi Bakr (613-678 CE), who was one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad and is revered as one of the most influential figures in early Islamic history. She is known for her vast knowledge of Islamic teachings and her role in transmitting hadith, the sayings and actions of the Prophet.
The earliest recorded usage of the name Aishah can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. It gained popularity among Muslims due to its association with the revered figure of Aishah bint Abi Bakr.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Aishah. One such figure is Aishah al-Bakri (1014-1094 CE), a renowned Berber Muslim scholar and poet from present-day Morocco. She was renowned for her expertise in various fields, including linguistics, poetry, and Islamic jurisprudence.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Aishah al-Taymuriya (1456-1522 CE), a Mamluk princess and scholar from Egypt. She was known for her contributions to the fields of medicine, astronomy, and Islamic theology, and was widely respected for her intellectual pursuits.
In the modern era, Aishah Abd al-Rahman (1913-1998) was a prominent Sudanese writer, activist, and pioneer of women's rights in Sudan. Her works focused on the struggles and experiences of Sudanese women, and she played a crucial role in advocating for women's education and empowerment.
Aishah Ghawzi (1923-2008) was a renowned Palestinian writer and activist who dedicated her life to promoting Palestinian culture and literature. Her works, which included novels, short stories, and essays, explored themes of identity, displacement, and resistance, and earned her widespread recognition and respect.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Aishah throughout history, each contributing to their respective fields and leaving a lasting impact on their societies and cultures.
People
Aishah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aishah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aishah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aishah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,221 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aishah 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 280,716 US residents.
Is Aishah a common name?
We classify Aishah as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,264 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aishah most popular?
The single biggest year for Aishah was 2003, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aishah is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aishah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,086 people with the name Aishah, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,690 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 Aishah 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 Aishah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aishah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,089 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 Aishah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aishah is Black at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (24.3%) and White (12.4%). 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 Aishah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aishah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (503 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 Aishah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aishah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aishah 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 Aishah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aishah 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 Aishah 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 many people are named Aishah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.