Zishe
A Yiddish diminutive form of the Hebrew name Zisha, itself meaning "God's gift".
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Zishe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Zishe today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zishe births was 2018 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zishe. 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 Zishe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
2018
6 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,187
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Zishe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zishe from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 10 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zishe 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 Zishe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zishes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zishe
The given name Zishe has its origins in the Yiddish language, which is a dialect of High German that was historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jewish communities across Central and Eastern Europe. The name is a diminutive form derived from the Hebrew name Zisha, which itself is a shortened version of the biblical name Yizhak (Isaac).
Zishe likely emerged as a common name among Yiddish-speaking Jewish communities in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in areas like Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. It may have been influenced by similar-sounding names from other Slavic languages, such as the Polish name Zygmunt or the Russian name Zinoviy.
While the name does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its Hebrew roots can be traced back to the biblical figure of Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah. In the Torah, Isaac is revered as one of the three patriarchs of the Jewish people, alongside his father Abraham and his son Jacob.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Zishe can be found in the life of Zishe Margolis (c.1760-1828), a prominent Hasidic rabbi and tzaddik (spiritual leader) who lived in Belarus and Ukraine. Another notable figure was Zishe Brodetzky (1858-1939), a renowned Talmudic scholar and rosh yeshiva (head of a Jewish religious seminary) in Odessa, Ukraine.
Other historical individuals bearing the name Zishe include Zishe Landau (1855-1923), a prominent Hasidic rebbe and author from Poland; Zishe Shapiro (1880-1943), a Yiddish writer and labor activist from Russia; and Zishe Weinper (1883-1956), a leading figure in the Jewish Labor Bund movement and a member of the Petrograd Soviet during the Russian Revolution.
It is worth noting that while the name Zishe was relatively common among Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, it became less prevalent in the 20th century, particularly after the Holocaust and the subsequent mass emigration of Jewish populations from the region.
People
Zishe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zishe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zishe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zishe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zishe 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Zishe a common name?
We classify Zishe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zishe most popular?
The single biggest year for Zishe was 2018, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zishe is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Zishe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Zishe 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.
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.