Clarissa

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 4 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◐

Clarissa is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name262K records spelled Clarissa34 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Brazil, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Hebrew

  Also written קלריסה, Clarisa, Clàrissa, Claŕisšă, Clärissa

• Indonesian given name8.5K records spelled Clarissa4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Clarissa, Clarissa'

• Russian given name1.0K records spelled Clarissa9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Poland, United States, Ukraine

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian

  Also written Кларисса, Klarissa, Кларісса

69 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●

Clarissa is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Se Clary.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• English: Latinate form of CLARICE occasionally found in medieval documents. It was revived by Samuel Richardson as the name of the central character in his novel Clarissa (1748). Cognate: Spanish: Clarisa. See also CAITIR .

  as a word

• In Latin, alternative letter-case form of clarissa, a member of the Order of Saint Clare

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Catalan, Poor Clare (member of the Order of Saint Clare)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

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) — 145 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Agatha Christieb. 1890GBnot in their usual nameEnglish mystery and detective writer (1890–1976)
• Rosalind Hicksb. 1919GBnot in their usual nameAgatha Christie's daughter (1919–2004)
• Clarissa Edenb. 1920GBBritish countess and memoirist (1920–2021)
• Clarissa Pinkola Estésb. 1945USAmerican psychoanalyst and writer
• Clarissa Burtb. 1959USAmerican actress
• Clarissa Davisb. 1967USAmerican basketball player (born 1967)
• Clarissa Wardb. 1980GBAmerican journalist
• Clarissa Chunb. 1981USAmerican sport wrestler
• Clarissa dos Santosb. 1988BRBrazilian basketball player (born 1988)
• Alice Mertonb. 1993DEnot in their usual nameGerman-Canadian singer-songwriter (born 1993)

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 · 617 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Clarissa?

We estimate roughly 50 thousand people bear Clarissa (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Clarissa have the most bearers?

We estimate about 33 thousand people bear Clarissa in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled clarissa.

How common is Clarissa compared with other names?

In Honduras, Clarissa is the 530th most common given name of 23,431 given names recorded there.

Is Clarissa a male or female name?

Clarissa 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 Clarissa mean?

Recorded meaning: Latinate form of Clarice occasionally found in medieval documents.