Anissa

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 25 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Anissa is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name106K records spelled Anissa17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium

  Languages: English, Dutch, German

  Also written Aenissa, Ànïssà, Ãnįśśa, Änissa, Anißa

• Indonesian given name11K records spelled Anissa5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Anissa, Anissa', Anïssä

• Russian given name838 records spelled Anissa14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Poland, United States, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Czech

  Also written Анисса, Анісса, Anissà, Añiśšă, Aňįššã

• Italian given name316 records spelled Anissa2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Morocco, Netherlands

  Also written Anîssâ

45 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Anissa is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, From Arabic, meaning ‘gentle, kind’.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 60 years between 1966–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Anissa Makhloufb. 1930SYSyrian politician
• Anissa Jonesb. 1958USAmerican actress (1958-1976)
• Anisa Ashkarb. 1979ILnot in their usual nameIsraeli-born Palestinian multidisciplinary artist (born 1979)
• Anissa Daoudb. 1982TNFrench-Tunisian actress, film director and producer
• Anissa Naouaib. 1982USAmerican journalist
• Anissa Kateb. 1987FRFrench pornographic actress and director
• Anissa Khelfaouib. 1991DZAlgerian fencer
• Anissa Urtezb. 1995USAmerican softball player and coach
• Anissa Lahmarib. 1997FRMoroccan, Algerian and French association football player
• Anissa Abi-DarghamUSAmerican psychiatrist

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 393 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Anissa?

We estimate roughly 32 thousand people bear Anissa (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Anissa have the most bearers?

We estimate about 19 thousand people bear Anissa in France, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled anissa.

How common is Anissa compared with other names?

In France, Anissa is the 527th most common given name of 711,207 given names recorded there.

Is Anissa a male or female name?

Anissa is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Anissa mean?

Recorded meaning: Modern name, often taken as a variant of Agnes/Anisa; etymology uncertain, used in Arabic and French contexts.