Iesha
A feminine name of African American origin meaning "life" or "respected one".
Name Census estimates that about 7,131 living Americans carry the first name Iesha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Iesha today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Iesha births was 1991 (1,905 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Iesha. 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.
People living today
7.1K
~ 1 in 48,065 Americans
Peak year
1991
1,905 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1991 SSA rank
#5,682
Tracked since 1968
Gender
Gender distribution for Iesha
Out of the 7,467 babies given the name Iesha since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Iesha as a male name
- Ranked #5,682 in 1991
- 9 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1991 (9 births)
Iesha as a female name
- Ranked #11,572 in 2023
- 8 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1991 (1,896 births)
Popularity
Iesha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Iesha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 4,452 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Iesha 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 Iesha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ieshas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. New York, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Iesha, while West Virginia, Oregon, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 155 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Iesha
The name Iesha has its origins in the Arabic language and is believed to have derived from the word 'Isha', which means 'life' or 'livelihood'. It is a feminine name that gained popularity in the Middle East and North Africa during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Iesha can be found in the writings of the renowned Arab poet and philosopher Al-Mutanabbi, who lived in the 10th century. He mentioned the name in one of his poems, suggesting that it was in use during that time.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Iesha bint Al-Muqtadir was recorded in historical texts as a prominent scholar and poet in the court of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Her contributions to literature and intellectual discourse during that period were widely recognized.
As the name spread across the Islamic world, it gained recognition in various cultures and regions. In the 14th century, an influential Sufi mystic from Persia, Iesha al-Khawafi, was renowned for her spiritual teachings and writings on Sufism.
During the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, Iesha Sultan was a prominent figure in the imperial court. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her influence on the cultural and intellectual life of the empire.
In more recent history, Iesha Haynes, an American civil rights activist born in 1924, played a significant role in the fight for racial equality and desegregation in the United States. Her courageous efforts and advocacy for social justice left a lasting impact on the civil rights movement.
While these are a few notable examples, the name Iesha has been carried by numerous individuals throughout history, each leaving their unique mark in various fields and cultures across different parts of the world.
People
Iesha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Iesha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Iesha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Iesha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,131 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Iesha 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 48,065 US residents.
Is Iesha a common name?
We classify Iesha as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,467 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Iesha most popular?
The single biggest year for Iesha was 1991, when 1,905 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Iesha is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Iesha a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Iesha 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.
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.