Girls' name · peaked in 1979
Elissa name popularity since 1925
17,955 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Elissa. Half of them were born in 1988 or earlier, so the typical Elissa is about 38 years old in 2026. Elissa peaked in 1979 as the #496 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 17,955
- Named Elissa, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,848 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 100.0% girls
- 17,955 girls · 0 boys
- Most popular in
- New York
- 2.31× its national share
Peak year is the year Elissa made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Elissa births per year, 1925–2025
1979 was the biggest year for Elissa both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1965 and 1970, Elissa became 2.5× more common, from 1 in 17,100 baby girls to 1 in 6,780.
- Steepest fall: Between 2012 and 2017, its share of baby girls fell by 43%, from 1 in 5,910 to 1 in 10,400.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Elissa's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Elissa.
Decade by decade
Babies named Elissa in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 5 | – |
| 1930s | 378 | #886 |
| 1940s | 676 | #1,051 |
| 1950s | 1,283 | #805 |
| 1960s | 1,352 | #1,026 |
| 1970s | 2,465 | #695 |
| 1980s | 3,277 | #622 |
| 1990s | 2,865 | #714 |
| 2000s | 2,653 | #910 |
| 2010s | 2,115 | #1,394 |
| 2020–25 | 886 | #1,848 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
27.1% of babies named Elissa from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Millennial years (1981–1996). The full split by generation:
Where Elissa is most popular
The index compares Elissa's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Elissa.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 2.31× | 2,416 |
| California | 1.67× | 2,429 |
| Texas | 1.64× | 1,774 |
| New Jersey | 1.51× | 572 |
| Massachusetts | 1.28× | 419 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Elissa and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Elissa (this page) | 17,955 | 1979 |
| Elisa | 46,140 | 2012 |
| Elyssa | 7,272 | 1998 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Elissa's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Elissa.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Elissa (1979).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data