How Many People Are Named Malissa?
An estimated 6,884 people in the United States have the first name Malissa. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 47 years old, and Malissa peaked in popularity in 1979 with 307 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Malissa as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Malissa paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
6,884
About 1 in 49,790 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
100.0% confidence
Average Age
47
years old
Peak Year
1979
307 births
Total Registered
8,858
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Malissa
Malissa is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 8,858 total births registered, 100.0% were female.
Malissa as a female name
Ranked #12,958 in 2023
7 female births in 2023
Peak: 1979 (307 births)
Malissa: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Malissa span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1970s, when 2,657 babies were registered. Malissa has declined significantly from its peak in the 1970s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Malissa by Decade
How has Malissa tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Malissa by State
Birth registrations for Malissa span all 38 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in New Mexico, Nebraska, Montana. On average, about 126 Malissas were registered per state.
Malissa + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Malissa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Malissa
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
Malissa: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malissa?
We estimate approximately 6,884 people named Malissa are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 49,790 Americans share this first name.
Is Malissa a common name?
Malissa is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 97.1% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 8,858 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Malissa most popular?
Malissa reached peak popularity in 1979, when 307 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Malissa is approximately 47 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Malissa a female name?
Malissa is predominantly female. 100.0% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Malissa Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Malissa Smith, Malissa Johnson, Malissa Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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