Lissy
A diminutive form of the name Elizabeth, of Hebrew origin meaning "consecrated to God".
Name Census estimates that about 95 living Americans carry the first name Lissy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lissy today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lissy births was 2010 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lissy. 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 Lissy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Lissy. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
95
~ 1 in 3,607,940 Americans
Peak year
2010
9 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,635
Tracked since 1984
Census
Lissy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 653 people with the first name Lissy, which placed it at #17,051 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
#17,051
National first-name rank
People counted
653
653 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
55.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lissy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lissy is Hispanic at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.7%) and White (12.9%). 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 Lissy 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 Lissy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino55.0% · 359
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.7% · 194
- White12.9% · 84
- Black or African American1.8% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
- Two or more races0.2% · 1
Popularity
Lissy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lissy from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 34 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Lissy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lissy 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 Lissy 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 Lissy
The name Lissy is a diminutive form of the name Elizabeth, which has its roots in the Hebrew language. Elizabeth comes from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath" or "consecrated to God." The name Lissy likely originated in medieval Europe as a pet form or nickname for Elizabeth.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lissy can be found in the 13th century English text "The Ancren Riwle," which was a guide for anchoresses or religious recluses. This text mentions a nun named Lissa, which was likely a diminutive of Elizabeth.
In the 14th century, there was a notable English woman named Lissy de Twenge, who was a landowner and heiress. She was born around 1320 and inherited significant estates in Yorkshire and Northumberland.
Another early bearer of the name was Lissy van der Gracht, a Dutch painter who lived in the 16th century. She was known for her still-life paintings and was active in Antwerp between 1550 and 1570.
In the 17th century, there was a French noblewoman named Lissy de Montmorency, who was born in 1628. She was a member of the influential House of Montmorency and was known for her involvement in the Fronde, a series of civil wars in France.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Lissy was Lissy Jarvik, a Swedish actress and singer who lived from 1865 to 1924. She was a pioneering actress in Swedish theater and film, and she also had a successful career as a singer and cabaret performer.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Lissy. While it has been a diminutive form of Elizabeth for centuries, the name Lissy has also been used as a standalone name in various cultures and time periods.
People
Lissy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lissy 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
Lissy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lissy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 95 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lissy 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 3,607,940 US residents.
Is Lissy a common name?
We classify Lissy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lissy most popular?
The single biggest year for Lissy was 2010, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lissy is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lissy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 653 people with the name Lissy, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,051 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 Lissy 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 Lissy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lissy appears almost entirely female. Of the 654 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Lissy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lissy is Hispanic at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.7%) and White (12.9%). 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 Lissy most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lissy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.0% (359 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 Lissy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lissy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lissy 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 Lissy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lissy 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 Lissy 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 are named Lissy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.