Alyssa
Meaning
variant of Alicia, with spelling influenced by the alyssum flower
The story
Alyssa is a modern variant of Alicia, with its spelling influenced by alyssum, the small flowering plant. That history is more reliable than the often repeated Greek meaning rational or logical. Alicia itself belongs to the Alice family, ultimately from the Germanic Adalheidis, of noble kind. Alyssa therefore arrived through sound, spelling, and a floral echo rather than one clean ancient root. The US curve is a concentrated modern wave. It barely registers before the 1970s, climbs in the 1980s, reaches its high point across the 1990s and 2000s, and then falls through the 2010s and 2020s. Actress Alyssa Milano was highly visible during the ascent, first on Who's the Boss? and later on Charmed, though the name's spread cannot be assigned to one person. Alyssa now carries both a generational signature and a subtle flower hidden in its spelling.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Alyssa peaked in the 1990s and the 2000s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
1,377 people · the #6,649 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 142,857 · median age 9
Among people named Alyssa living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 429 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Alyssa
Most people given the name Alyssa in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Alyssa deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Alyssa truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Alyssa fits with your family’s names and surname.
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