Reisha
A feminine Arabic name meaning "soft wind" or "light breeze".
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Reisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Reisha today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reisha births was 1976 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reisha. 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 Reisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
1976
11 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1992 SSA rank
#14,974
Tracked since 1965
Census
Reisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 214 people with the first name Reisha, which placed it at #36,840 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
#36,840
National first-name rank
People counted
214
214 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Reisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reisha is Black at 39.3%. The next largest groups are White (34.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.3%). 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 Reisha 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 Reisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.3% · 84
- White34.6% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.3% · 37
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 12
- Two or more races3.3% · 7
Popularity
Reisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reisha from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Reisha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Reisha 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 Reisha 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 Reisha
The name Reisha has its origins in the Middle Eastern and South Asian regions, tracing back to ancient Sanskrit and Arabic roots. In Sanskrit, the word "Rishi" refers to a seer, sage, or enlightened being, while in Arabic, "Rasha" means dew or rain drops.
This name's earliest known use can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when it was recorded in ancient Islamic texts and historical records of the Arabian Peninsula. During this era, the name was often given to individuals who were considered wise, learned, or spiritually inclined.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Reisha was Reisha al-Basri, a renowned Islamic scholar and mystic who lived in the 8th century CE. He was known for his profound teachings on Sufism and was highly respected within the Islamic scholarly community.
In the 11th century CE, there was a notable Persian poet and philosopher named Reisha al-Din Nizam al-Mulk, who served as the vizier (prime minister) of the Seljuk Empire. His works and writings had a significant impact on the intellectual and literary landscape of the time.
Moving forward to the 16th century, Reisha Begum was a prominent figure in the Mughal Empire of South Asia. She was the daughter of Emperor Akbar and played a influential role in the court, known for her patronage of the arts and her intellectual pursuits.
In more recent history, Reisha Khaled was a renowned Egyptian feminist and activist who fought for women's rights and gender equality in the early 20th century. Born in 1897, she was a pioneering figure in the Arab world and inspired countless women to advocate for their rights and freedoms.
Lastly, Reisha Taha was a celebrated Iraqi artist and sculptor who lived from 1924 to 2011. Her works, often inspired by ancient Mesopotamian and Islamic motifs, gained international recognition and were exhibited in various prestigious galleries and museums around the world.
People
Reisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reisha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Reisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reisha 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 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Reisha a common name?
We classify Reisha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Reisha was 1976, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reisha is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Reisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 214 people with the name Reisha, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,840 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 Reisha 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 Reisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Reisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 215 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Reisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reisha is Black at 39.3%. The next largest groups are White (34.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (17.3%). 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 Reisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Reisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.3% (84 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 Reisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Reisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Reisha 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 Reisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Reisha 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 Reisha 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 Reisha?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.