Lenisha
A feminine name with origins in West Africa, meaning "daughter of the chief".
Name Census estimates that about 214 living Americans carry the first name Lenisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lenisha today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lenisha births was 1997 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lenisha. 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 Lenisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
214
~ 1 in 1,601,656 Americans
Peak year
1997
17 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2003 SSA rank
#17,250
Tracked since 1977
Census
Lenisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 215 people with the first name Lenisha, which placed it at #36,733 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
#36,733
National first-name rank
People counted
215
215 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lenisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenisha is Black at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Lenisha 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 Lenisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American77.2% · 166
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 13
- White5.6% · 12
- Two or more races2.8% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 3
Popularity
Lenisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lenisha from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 106 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
Lenisha 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 Lenisha 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 Lenisha
The name Lenisha is of African origin, derived from the Swahili language spoken in East Africa. It is a combination of the words "leni" meaning "wait" and "isha" meaning "night". The name Lenisha can be interpreted to mean "waiting for the night" or "one who waits until nightfall".
In the 17th century, the name was first recorded among the Swahili people living along the coastal regions of present-day Kenya and Tanzania. During this period, the name was predominantly given to girls born at night or around dusk, signifying the anticipation of their arrival.
While there are no known historical references to the name Lenisha in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been documented in various colonial records from the time of European exploration and settlement in East Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lenisha dates back to 1689, when a Swahili woman by that name was listed in a Portuguese census of the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lenisha. In the 18th century, Lenisha Mwamba (1732-1801) was a renowned Swahili trader and explorer who traveled extensively across East Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
In the 19th century, Lenisha Kanyama (1825-1892) was a prominent Swahili poet and songwriter whose works celebrated the rich cultural heritage of her people.
During the 20th century, Lenisha Mshindo (1910-1998) was a Tanzanian educator and activist who played a significant role in advocating for women's rights and education in her country.
Lenisha Mussa (1942-2014) was a celebrated Kenyan writer and playwright whose plays explored themes of identity, tradition, and social change in East African societies.
More recently, Lenisha Beckett (1975-present) is a contemporary American artist and sculptor of Swahili descent, known for her captivating installations that blend traditional African motifs with modern aesthetics.
People
Lenisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lenisha 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
Lenisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lenisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lenisha 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 1,601,656 US residents.
Is Lenisha a common name?
We classify Lenisha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lenisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Lenisha was 1997, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lenisha is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lenisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 215 people with the name Lenisha, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,733 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 Lenisha 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 Lenisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lenisha leans strongly female. 215 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Lenisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenisha is Black at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Lenisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lenisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (166 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 Lenisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lenisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lenisha 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 Lenisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lenisha 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 Lenisha 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 Americans are named Lenisha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.