Nissan
Hebrew name meaning "miracle" or "great fortune".
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Nissan. It is a predominantly male name (94.6% of registrations). The average person named Nissan today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nissan births was 1994 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nissan. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nissan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1994
10 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,456
Tracked since 1982
Census
Nissan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 307 people with the first name Nissan, which placed it at #29,019 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
#29,019
National first-name rank
People counted
307
307 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nissan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nissan is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.9%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Nissan 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 Nissan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.3% · 182
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.9% · 55
- Black or African American14.7% · 45
- Two or more races4.2% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Nissan
Nissan leans heavily male at 94.6% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nissan as a male name
- Ranked #11,889 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (10 births)
Nissan as a female name
- Ranked #11,456 in 1983
- 5 female births in 1983
- Peak: 1983 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nissan leans strongly male. 257 people counted with this name were male (83.2%), compared with 52 female bearers (16.8%).
Popularity
Nissan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nissan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 40 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Nissan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nissan 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 Nissan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nissans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nissan
The name Nissan originates from the Hebrew language, derived from the Hebrew word "nissim," which means "miracles." It is believed to have first appeared in ancient Jewish texts and scriptures during the Biblical era, around the 6th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nissan can be found in the Book of Esther, where it is mentioned as the name of the Hebrew month during which the events described in the book took place. This month corresponds to March-April in the Gregorian calendar.
In the Middle Ages, the name Nissan was occasionally used by Jewish communities, but it remained relatively uncommon until the 19th century. One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name was Nissan ben Avraham (1590-1660), a prominent Jewish scholar and Kabbalist from Safed, Palestine.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the name Nissan gained popularity among Ashkenazi Jewish families in Eastern Europe. Nissan Shtarkes (1802-1884) was a renowned Hebrew poet and writer from Ukraine, while Nissan Mindel (1834-1912) was a prominent Hasidic rabbi and leader in Poland.
Another notable figure with the name Nissan was Nissan Nativ (1885-1924), a Hebrew writer, poet, and educator who played a significant role in the revival of the Hebrew language and the development of modern Hebrew literature.
In more recent history, Nissan Slomiansky (1920-1992) was an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), while Nissan Levi (1937-2022) was an Israeli football player and manager who represented Israel's national team.
While the name Nissan has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has since been adopted by various communities around the world, particularly among Jews of various backgrounds. However, its usage remains relatively uncommon compared to other Hebrew names.
People
Nissan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nissan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nissan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nissan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nissan 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Nissan a common name?
We classify Nissan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 93 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nissan most popular?
The single biggest year for Nissan was 1994, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nissan is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nissan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 307 people with the name Nissan, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,019 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 Nissan 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 Nissan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nissan leans strongly male. 257 people counted with this name were male (83.2%), compared with 52 female bearers (16.8%). 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 Nissan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nissan is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.9%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Nissan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nissan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.3% (182 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 Nissan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nissan a male name?
Yes, 94.6% of people registered as Nissan in the SSA data are male. 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 Nissan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nissan 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 Nissan 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 common is the name Nissan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.