Aiesha

History & Origin

Aiesha is one of the English spellings of Aisha, from the Arabic root meaning 'alive' or 'living'. The name is revered for its connection to Aisha bint Abi Bakr, a wife of the Prophet Muhammad. In the United States it spread both within Muslim communities and, in the later twentieth century, more broadly; the Aiesha spelling appears from the nineteen-seventies.

It reached its high point in 1991, among a cluster of Aisha spellings then in fashion, and eased afterward while remaining in living use into the twenty-twenties. Aiesha reads as a heritage name with genuine religious depth; because its spelling misleads English readers, the audio is guided from the respelling.