Tanisha is a 1960s-70s African American name with possible Sanskrit roots (*tanish* or *tann* — "ambition, desire") and parallel use as the Hausa-language name for "born on Monday." **A top-300 US baby name from 1971 to 1991, peaking at #244 in 1979**. **Tanisha Mukherjee (born 1978)** — Indian actress; sister of Bollywood superstar Kajol; *Bigg Boss 7* (2013) Indian *Big Brother* finalist; daughter of legendary actress Tanuja Mukherjee. **Tanisha Thomas** — American TV personality; *Bad Girls Club* season 2 winner (2008); spin-off *Tanisha Gets Married* (2014). **Tanisha Harper** — American actress (*The Bernie Mac Show*, *Bones*). **Tanisha Long** — American comedian; *MTV2's Guy Code*. **Tanisha Wright** — American WNBA basketball player; Seattle Storm 2010 WNBA Championship team. **The name became closely associated with the 1970s-80s wave of distinctively African American girls' names alongside Lakeisha, Tameka, and Latoya; like those, it appears in landmark sociolinguistic studies of naming and identity in the post-Civil-Rights era**. The name's Sanskrit interpretation ("ambition") has also led to its independent adoption in modern Hindu families across India, where Tanisha appears in the top-500 Indian girls' names of the 2010s.
Featured throughout late-20th-century American and Indian culture.
Tanisha reduces to nine — the number of ambition.