Annise
Of French origin, meaning "dill or anise seed".
Name Census estimates that about 155 living Americans carry the first name Annise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Annise today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Annise births was 1969 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Annise. 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 Annise with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
155
~ 1 in 2,211,318 Americans
Peak year
1969
15 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2000 SSA rank
#13,304
Tracked since 1920
Census
Annise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 307 people with the first name Annise, which placed it at #29,019 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
#29,019
National first-name rank
People counted
307
307 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Annise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Annise is Black at 60.3%. The next largest groups are White (27.4%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Annise 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 Annise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.3% · 185
- White27.4% · 84
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 19
- Two or more races3.9% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Annise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Annise from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 57 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Annise 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 Annise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Annise
The given name Annise is believed to have originated from the French language, deriving from the word "anis," which refers to the anise plant. This aromatic herb has been cultivated in the Mediterranean region since ancient times and was highly valued for its culinary and medicinal properties.
Annise is thought to have emerged as a given name during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions of France where the anise plant was widely grown and used. The name may have been inspired by the plant's distinctive licorice-like flavor and aroma, viewed as a symbol of sweetness and fragrance.
Historical records suggest that Annise was initially used as a feminine name, although some instances of its use as a masculine name have also been documented. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the 12th-century French manuscript "Les Contes de Canterbury" (The Canterbury Tales), where a character named Annise is mentioned.
Throughout the centuries, the name Annise has been borne by several notable individuals. One such figure was Annise Michelet (1539-1612), a French noblewoman and patron of the arts, known for her support of Renaissance painters and writers. Another notable bearer of the name was Annise de Leuven (1673-1742), a Flemish botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plant life in the Low Countries.
In the realm of literature, the name Annise gained prominence through the works of French author Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850). In his novel "Le Lys dans la Vallée" (The Lily of the Valley), one of the central characters is named Annise des Tournelles, a young woman whose name symbolizes her delicate and fragrant nature.
Moving into the modern era, Annise Greenberg (1912-2001) was an American author and playwright known for her works exploring themes of Jewish identity and family dynamics. Annise Parker (born 1956) is a former mayor of Houston, Texas, and a prominent figure in American politics.
While the name Annise has maintained a presence throughout history, it is considered relatively uncommon compared to more widely used names. Nevertheless, its connection to the anise plant and its symbolic associations with sweetness and fragrance have contributed to its enduring appeal as a distinctive and meaningful given name.
People
Annise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Annise 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
Annise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Annise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 155 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Annise 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 2,211,318 US residents.
Is Annise a common name?
We classify Annise as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 230 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Annise most popular?
The single biggest year for Annise was 1969, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Annise is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Annise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 307 people with the name Annise, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,019 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 Annise 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 Annise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Annise leans strongly female. 285 people counted with this name were female (95.0%), compared with 15 male bearers (5.0%). 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 Annise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Annise is Black at 60.3%. The next largest groups are White (27.4%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Annise most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Annise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.3% (185 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 Annise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Annise a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Annise 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 Annise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Annise 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 Annise 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 have the name Annise?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.