Kyisha
African American name derived from the English word "kysser", meaning "to kiss".
Name Census estimates that about 204 living Americans carry the first name Kyisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kyisha today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kyisha births was 1979 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kyisha. 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 Kyisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
204
~ 1 in 1,680,168 Americans
Peak year
1979
16 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2001 SSA rank
#16,745
Tracked since 1973
Census
Kyisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 181 people with the first name Kyisha, which placed it at #40,888 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
#40,888
National first-name rank
People counted
181
181 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kyisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kyisha is Black at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.1%) and White (4.4%). 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 Kyisha 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 Kyisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.9% · 150
- Two or more races6.1% · 11
- White4.4% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 2
Popularity
Kyisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kyisha 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 91 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
Kyisha 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 Kyisha 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 Kyisha
The name Kyisha has its origins in the Swahili language, spoken primarily in East Africa. It is believed to have derived from the Swahili word "kyisha," which means "to complete" or "to finish." The name's earliest recorded use dates back to the 19th century, during the height of the Swahili trade empire along the East African coast.
In Swahili culture, names often held significant meanings and were chosen with great care. The name Kyisha may have been given to children as a wish for them to complete their tasks or journey in life successfully. It could also have been a name bestowed upon those who had completed a significant accomplishment or rite of passage.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kyisha was Kyisha bint Mubarak, a renowned Swahili poet and scholar who lived in the late 18th century. She was celebrated for her contributions to Swahili literature and her mastery of the Arabic language.
Another notable figure was Kyisha al-Lamu, a 19th-century Swahili trader and explorer. He is credited with establishing trade routes and fostering cultural exchange between the Swahili coast and the interior regions of East Africa.
In the 20th century, Kyisha Arrington was a prominent civil rights activist from the United States. Born in 1923, she played a pivotal role in the desegregation of public spaces and advocated for equal rights and opportunities for African Americans.
Kyisha Singh was an Indian-born Kenyan athlete who represented her country in the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. She excelled in track and field events, particularly the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, and held several national records in her prime.
Kyisha Masood was a Pakistani writer and activist who gained recognition for her work in promoting women's rights and education in the latter half of the 20th century. Her literary works tackled important social issues and challenged traditional gender norms.
While the name Kyisha is not as common today as it once was in East Africa, it remains a unique and meaningful choice for parents seeking a name with historical and cultural significance.
People
Kyisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kyisha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kyisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kyisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kyisha 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 1,680,168 US residents.
Is Kyisha a common name?
We classify Kyisha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 216 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kyisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Kyisha was 1979, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kyisha is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kyisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 181 people with the name Kyisha, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,888 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 Kyisha 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 Kyisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kyisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 181 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kyisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kyisha is Black at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.1%) and White (4.4%). 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 Kyisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kyisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (150 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 Kyisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kyisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kyisha 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 Kyisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kyisha 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 Kyisha 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 Kyisha?
Find out how many people share the name Kyisha on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.