Talisha
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from Natalie or Talia.
Name Census estimates that about 2,748 living Americans carry the first name Talisha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Talisha today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Talisha births was 1989 (140 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Talisha. 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 Talisha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.7K
~ 1 in 124,729 Americans
Peak year
1989
140 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,344
Tracked since 1967
Census
Talisha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,366 people with the first name Talisha, which placed it at #6,696 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
#6,696
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,366 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Talisha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Talisha is Black at 68.4%. The next largest groups are White (16.9%) and Hispanic (7.8%). 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 Talisha 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 Talisha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.4% · 1,619
- White16.9% · 401
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 185
- Two or more races4.8% · 113
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 12
Popularity
Talisha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Talisha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,141 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Talisha 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 Talisha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Talishas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Talisha, while Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Talisha
The name Talisha is a feminine given name of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "talash" which means "to seek" or "to search for." Its popularity can be traced back to the late 20th century, particularly in the United States and parts of the Caribbean.
The earliest recorded use of the name Talisha can be found in ancient Arabic texts, where it was used to refer to individuals who were seekers of knowledge or truth. It was often associated with philosophical or spiritual pursuits, reflecting the introspective nature of the name's meaning.
One of the earliest notable individuals bearing the name Talisha was a 9th-century Arab philosopher and scholar from Baghdad. Talisha bint Abi Bakr was renowned for her contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy, and her works were widely studied and referenced by scholars of her time.
In the 12th century, Talisha al-Andalusiyya, a renowned poet from Andalusia (modern-day Spain), gained recognition for her powerful and evocative verses. Her poetry explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition, and her works were widely celebrated throughout the Islamic world.
During the Renaissance period, Talisha Veneziano, an Italian artist and painter, made significant contributions to the art world. Born in 1475 in Venice, her intricate and detailed paintings were highly sought after by the nobility and wealthy patrons of the time.
In more recent history, Talisha Dutton was a prominent American civil rights activist and advocate for women's suffrage in the early 20th century. Born in 1878, she dedicated her life to fighting for equality and social justice, and her tireless efforts played a crucial role in the passing of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in the United States.
Another notable figure bearing the name Talisha was Talisha Browne, a celebrated Jamaican writer and poet who gained recognition in the mid-20th century. Her powerful and thought-provoking works explored themes of identity, colonialism, and the experiences of the Caribbean diaspora, leaving a lasting impact on the literary landscape.
People
Talisha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Talisha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Talisha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Talisha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,748 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Talisha 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 124,729 US residents.
Is Talisha a common name?
We classify Talisha as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,911 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Talisha most popular?
The single biggest year for Talisha was 1989, when 140 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Talisha is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Talisha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,366 people with the name Talisha, or 0.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,696 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 Talisha 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 Talisha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Talisha appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,364 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Talisha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Talisha is Black at 68.4%. The next largest groups are White (16.9%) and Hispanic (7.8%). 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 Talisha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Talisha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.4% (1,619 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 Talisha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Talisha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Talisha 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 Talisha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Talisha 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 Talisha 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 Talisha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.