Jerlisa
A feminine name likely of Germanic origin, possibly meaning "true promise."
Name Census estimates that about 111 living Americans carry the first name Jerlisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jerlisa today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerlisa births was 1989 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerlisa. 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
111
~ 1 in 3,087,877 Americans
Peak year
1989
21 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1997 SSA rank
#14,737
Tracked since 1988
Census
Jerlisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 118 people with the first name Jerlisa, which placed it at #50,661 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
#50,661
National first-name rank
People counted
118
118 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jerlisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerlisa is Black at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%). 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 Jerlisa 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 Jerlisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.3% · 103
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.4% · 4
- White2.5% · 3
Popularity
Jerlisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerlisa from the 1980s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 79 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jerlisa 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 Jerlisa 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 Jerlisa
The name Jerlisa has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, one of the earliest written languages known to humankind, dating back to around 3500 BCE. It is derived from the words "jer" meaning "moon" and "lisa" meaning "radiant." The name, therefore, loosely translates to "radiant moonlight" or "moon's radiance."
In the cuneiform tablets of the Sumerian city of Ur, there are records of a high priestess named Jerlisa who served in the temple of the moon goddess Nanna. This priestess lived around 2300 BCE and was revered for her wisdom and her ability to interpret the celestial movements of the moon.
The name Jerlisa also appears in the ancient Akkadian epic of Gilgamesh, which dates back to around 2100 BCE. In this epic, Jerlisa is depicted as a powerful sorceress who aids the hero Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Jerlisa was a Phoenician merchant who lived around 800 BCE. She was renowned for her extensive trade routes across the Mediterranean and her skills in navigation, which she used to guide ships by the light of the moon.
In the 5th century BCE, there was a famous Greek astronomer named Jerlisa, who made significant contributions to the understanding of lunar cycles and eclipses. She is credited with developing one of the earliest models of the solar system, which placed the Earth at the center.
During the Roman era, there was a notable physician named Jerlisa who lived in the 1st century CE. She was skilled in the use of herbs and lunar cycles for medicinal purposes and is believed to have authored several texts on natural remedies.
In the 10th century CE, a Persian poet named Jerlisa gained recognition for her lyrical works that celebrated the beauty of the moon and its significance in Islamic culture. Her poetry was widely appreciated and influenced many subsequent poets in the region.
In the 16th century, there was a Spanish explorer named Jerlisa who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expeditions to the Americas. She was known for her bravery and her ability to navigate by the stars and the moon, which aided the Spanish in their exploration of the New World.
People
Jerlisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerlisa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jerlisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerlisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerlisa 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 3,087,877 US residents.
Is Jerlisa a common name?
We classify Jerlisa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 116 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerlisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerlisa was 1989, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerlisa is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jerlisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 118 people with the name Jerlisa, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,661 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 Jerlisa 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 Jerlisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jerlisa leans strongly female. 113 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Jerlisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerlisa is Black at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%). 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 Jerlisa most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jerlisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (103 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 Jerlisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jerlisa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jerlisa 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 Jerlisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jerlisa 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 Jerlisa 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 share the name Jerlisa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.