Ishia
A Hebrew baby name meaning "woman, wife".
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Ishia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ishia today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ishia births was 1977 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ishia. 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
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
1977
15 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2006 SSA rank
#18,229
Tracked since 1973
Census
Ishia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 214 people with the first name Ishia, which placed it at #36,840 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
#36,840
National first-name rank
People counted
214
214 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ishia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ishia is Black at 65.4%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Ishia 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 Ishia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.4% · 140
- White13.1% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 23
- Two or more races7.0% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 8
Popularity
Ishia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ishia from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 59 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ishia 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 Ishia 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 Ishia
The name Ishia has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia, specifically in the Akkadian language spoken by the Assyrians and Babylonians. It is derived from the Akkadian word "ishu," meaning "gift" or "offering." The name likely emerged during the peak of Mesopotamian civilization, around the third millennium BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ishia can be found in cuneiform tablets from the ancient city of Ur, dating back to the 21st century BCE. These tablets mention an individual named Ishia-nadin-apli, which translates to "Ishia, the gift of the heir." This suggests that the name was already in use during the Third Dynasty of Ur.
In later centuries, the name Ishia appeared in various ancient texts and records from the region. For instance, an Assyrian king named Ishia-ilu reigned during the 7th century BCE, as mentioned in the Assyrian annals.
During the classical era, the name Ishia found its way into Greek and Roman records, often transliterated as "Ischia" or "Ischias." One notable figure from this period was Ischias of Rhodes, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 3rd century BCE and wrote extensively on ethics and virtue.
In the Middle Ages, the name Ishia gained some prominence in the Islamic world, particularly in the Persian and Arabic regions. One example is Ishia al-Baghdadi, a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher from Baghdad who lived in the 11th century CE and authored several works on logic and metaphysics.
Another notable figure was Ishia ibn Malik al-Andalusi, a Muslim poet and literary critic from Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain) who lived in the 12th century CE and made significant contributions to Arabic literature.
During the Renaissance period, the name Ishia appeared sporadically in various European records, though it was not as common as in earlier eras. One example is Ishia Monteferrato, an Italian painter and sculptor from the 16th century who was known for his religious artwork.
In more recent history, one notable individual with the name Ishia was Ishia Bennitt, a British author and playwright who lived from 1887 to 1965 and wrote several well-received plays and novels.
While the name Ishia has ancient roots and a rich history, it has become less common in modern times, particularly in Western cultures. However, its connection to the concept of "gift" or "offering" from the Akkadian language remains an enduring legacy of this ancient name.
People
Ishia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ishia 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
Ishia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ishia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ishia 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Ishia a common name?
We classify Ishia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 147 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ishia most popular?
The single biggest year for Ishia was 1977, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ishia is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ishia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 214 people with the name Ishia, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,840 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 Ishia 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 Ishia?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ishia on both sides of the split. Of the 211 people counted with this name, 52 were male (24.6%) and 159 were female (75.4%). 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 Ishia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ishia is Black at 65.4%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Ishia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ishia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.4% (140 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 Ishia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ishia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ishia 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 Ishia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ishia 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 Ishia 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 Ishia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.