Nisha
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Meaning
night
The story
Nisha is Sanskrit for "night," a meaning so clean it hardly needs decoration. Modern Nisha carries the Sanskrit word in a compact Latin spelling. Indian swimmer Nisha Millet gives it a wonderfully daytime life. Official records place her in the women's 200-metre freestyle at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. She later moved from competing to teaching in Bengaluru. Her academy now coaches toddlers, adult beginners, competitive swimmers, and open-water athletes, and says its team has taught thousands. None of that follows from a word for night. It simply shows what a brief, ancient word can hold: one crisp sound, an Olympic starting block, and a bearer who carried her craft from international competition to the next swimmer's first confident lap.
How popular is Nisha around the world?
In the United States, 93 babies were named Nisha between 2020 and 2025.
Nisha is on the official records of the United States and Spain.
United States
1 in 230,000
In the United States, 93 babies were named Nisha between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Nisha peaked in the 2000s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 370,000
In Spain, 120 residents are named Nisha, ranked 6,737th among women, with a mean age of 29.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Austria
last on record 2021
Nisha is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Canada
last on record 2023
Nisha is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
last on record 2024
Nisha is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
last on record 2014
Nisha is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Mexico City City
last on record 2021
Nisha is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Scotland
last on record 2007
Nisha is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
last on record 2011
Nisha is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Argentina, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Nisha
Most people given the name Nisha in the United States were born between 1980 and 2009. The Nisha you meet today is most often in her 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Nisha deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Nisha 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 Nisha fits with your family’s names and surname.
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