Leisa
A feminine Greek name meaning "pleasant" or "agreeable".
Name Census estimates that about 4,081 living Americans carry the first name Leisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leisa today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leisa births was 1958 (344 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leisa. 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 Leisa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 83,988 Americans
Peak year
1958
344 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,446
Tracked since 1948
Census
Leisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,597 people with the first name Leisa, which placed it at #4,175 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
#4,175
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,597 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leisa is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Leisa 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 Leisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 3,725
- Black or African American10.4% · 476
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 162
- Two or more races3.5% · 162
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 31
Popularity
Leisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leisa from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 2,604 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leisa 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 Leisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leisas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Leisa, while Nebraska, Montana, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 86 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leisa
The name Leisa is believed to have originated from the Greek language, derived from the feminine form of the name Lazarus, which itself comes from the Hebrew name Eleazar, meaning "God has helped." The name Leisa likely emerged during the Byzantine era, around the 5th to 15th centuries AD, when Greek culture and language held significant influence across parts of Europe and the Mediterranean region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leisa can be found in the writings of the Byzantine historian Michael Psellos, who lived from 1018 to 1078 AD. In his chronicles, he mentions a noblewoman named Leisa, who was a member of the imperial court during the reign of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos in the 11th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Leisa gained some popularity in parts of Southern Europe, particularly in regions with strong Greek cultural influences, such as Italy and parts of the Balkans. It was also occasionally used in other parts of Europe, though its usage remained relatively rare.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Leisa was Leisa of Amalfi, a wealthy Italian noblewoman who lived in the 12th century. She was known for her philanthropic works and for founding a hospital and a convent in the city of Amalfi, located in present-day Italy.
Another prominent individual with the name Leisa was Leisa Ginevra, a 14th-century Italian poet and writer from Florence. She was a member of the influential Bardi family and is remembered for her lyrical poetry and her contributions to the literary circles of her time.
In the 16th century, Leisa Santarelli, an Italian painter from the city of Perugia, gained recognition for her religious-themed artworks and her skill in portraiture. Her works can still be found in various churches and museums in Italy.
Leisa of Mantua, who lived in the 17th century, was a prominent figure in the arts and culture of the Italian Renaissance. She was a patron of artists and writers and hosted salons in her palace, where intellectuals and artists would gather to discuss and share their works.
Lastly, Leisa Campagnoli, an 18th-century Italian violinist and composer, is remembered for her virtuosic performances and her compositions for the violin. She was a respected figure in the musical circles of her time and performed for various European courts and aristocratic patrons.
People
Leisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leisa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Leisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,081 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leisa 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 83,988 US residents.
Is Leisa a common name?
We classify Leisa as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,969 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Leisa was 1958, when 344 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leisa is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,597 people with the name Leisa, or 1.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,175 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 Leisa 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 Leisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,595 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Leisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leisa is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Leisa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (3,725 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 Leisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leisa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leisa 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 Leisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leisa 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 Leisa 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 Leisa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.