Name Awesome

Alessa

#1,872 in 2025Girls' name

Short form of Alessandra

Alessa has been given to 3,005 babies in the U.S. since 1970. In 2025 it ranked #1,872 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 174 recorded.

Babies named Alessa, 2025

1 in 31,600

Alessa over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alessa: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Alessandra

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Alessa means

Alessa is a short form of Alessandra.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Alessa → Alessandra → Alexandra. The family’s meaning is “to defend”, recorded in English with the source elements aléxō.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alessandra.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,005 girls were recorded with the name Alessa between 1970 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 174 in 2016; its best national rank was #1,358 in 2016.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,398 in 2020 to #1,872 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,643 in 2015 to #1,872 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Alessa?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 31,600
105 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 15,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,872
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
21,886 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Alessa sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 21,886 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alessa. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alessas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alessa was born before 2015 — so the typical Alessa is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
41.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
88.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
3,005
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 41.0% of all recorded uses (1,231).

Is Alessa rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−190
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−474
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−229
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.81×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
60.3%
Peak was 2016 (174)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,358
2016

Spellings of Alessa

Alessa is not the most common spelling — Alyssa is, with 24.4% against Alessa's 0.23%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Alessa is used

Across 2016–2025, Alessa was most concentrated in Arizona — about 1 in 4,762 girls, against 1 in 10,617 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in 100,000).

121 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arizona1 in 4,762
  2. 2Texas1 in 5,263
  3. 3California1 in 6,250
  4. 4Florida1 in 6,667
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in 14,286
  6. 6Colorado1 in 16,667
  7. 7Illinois1 in 16,667
  8. 8New Jersey1 in 20,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Alessa around the world

Where Alessa ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2006–2025
    #4,867
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2016–2016
    #798
    in 2016
  • France
    2008–2025
    #4,414
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2002–2024
    #2,463
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1965–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Alessa

People whose public names include Alessa, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Alessa by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,872
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 474
Best rank ever
#1,358
2016
Peak year
2016
174 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,005
Count in 2025
105

Names similar to Alessa

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AleyssaAleynaAleyahAlexysAleidaAleydaAlexieAleeahAleishaAleiaAleezaAleenAleeyaAlesiaAleshaAlethiaAlettaAleissaAlexiAleyaAleinaAleanaAleighaAlethea

Names with a curve like Alessa

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Alessa, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

ZainaRaleighAmiliaNailaAmeeraKlaraZiaAnylaPrishaEmmiNaylaSymphony

Sibling names for Alessa

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Alessa

Top names of 2016, Alessa's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2016Girls' names starting with A