Enessa
A feminine variant of the Arabic name Inayah meaning "attention, care".
Name Census estimates that about 56 living Americans carry the first name Enessa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Enessa today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Enessa births was 2007 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Enessa. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Enessa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
56
~ 1 in 6,120,613 Americans
Peak year
2007
8 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2021 SSA rank
#15,979
Tracked since 1998
Popularity
Enessa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Enessa from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 22 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Enessa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Enessa 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 Enessa 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 Enessa
The name Enessa has its roots in Greek origins, deriving from the word "enesos," which means "praise" or "approval." It first emerged during the ancient Greek era, around the 5th century BC, when it was primarily used as a feminine name.
In ancient Greece, the name Enessa was associated with the concept of praising or approving someone, often in the context of admiring their virtues or achievements. It was considered a name of honor and respect, bestowed upon individuals who had earned praise from their peers or community.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Enessa can be found in the works of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who lived from around 446 BC to 386 BC. In his comedic plays, he included a character named Enessa, though little is known about the specific role or significance of this character.
As time passed, the name Enessa spread beyond the borders of ancient Greece and found its way into other cultures and regions. In the Byzantine Empire, which lasted from the 4th century AD to the 15th century AD, the name Enessa gained popularity among the ruling classes and aristocracy.
One notable figure in history who bore the name Enessa was a Byzantine princess who lived during the 12th century AD. She was the daughter of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos and was renowned for her intelligence, beauty, and poise. Unfortunately, historical records do not provide her exact birth and death dates.
Another prominent individual with the name Enessa was a Greek poet and philosopher who lived in the 3rd century BC. She was known for her insightful writings on love, nature, and the human condition. While her exact dates are uncertain, historians believe she was born sometime around 280 BC and lived to be in her late 60s or early 70s.
In the realm of literature, the name Enessa also found its way into the works of the ancient Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his epic poem "Metamorphoses," he mentions a character named Enessa, though her role and significance in the work are not well-documented.
Moving forward in time, the name Enessa continued to appear sporadically throughout history, though it was not as widely used as in ancient times. One notable figure was Enessa of Crete, a renowned painter and artist who lived during the 16th century AD, renowned for her vibrant and lifelike portraits of the Cretan nobility.
During the Renaissance period, the name Enessa gained some popularity among the intellectual and artistic circles of Italy, particularly in cities like Florence and Venice. However, the exact birth and death dates of individuals with this name from that era are often unclear or lost to history.
People
Enessa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Enessa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Enessa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Enessa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 56 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Enessa 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 6,120,613 US residents.
Is Enessa a common name?
We classify Enessa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 57 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Enessa most popular?
The single biggest year for Enessa was 2007, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Enessa is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Enessa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Enessa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Enessa 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 Enessa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Enessa 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 Enessa 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Enessa?
You can see how many people have the name Enessa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.