Raisa

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Раиса in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, KG Kyrgyzstan and 7 more, Raissa in BR Brazil, PH Philippines, Raïssa in FR France, CM Cameroon and Раїса in UA Ukraine.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 13 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◐

Raisa is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name313K records spelled Raisa11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Venezuela, Spain

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Raísa, Ráisa, Raişa, Raïsa, Räisä

• English surname121K records spelled Raisa93 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: English, Hindi, German

  Also written Rice, Raisha, Risa, Raisu, রাইসা

• Finnish given name11K records spelled Raisa7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, Russia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian

  Also written Räisa, Raïsa, Raīsa, Raísa

• Khmer given name2.8K records spelled Raisa4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Russia, United States, Vietnam

  Languages: Khmer, Vietnamese

  Also written Räisä, Raísa

• a separate given name2.8K records spelled Raisa9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Russia, Ukraine

  Also written Raïsa, Raīsa, Răĭsă, Raísa, Raĭsa

48 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●

Raisa is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Arabic, leader, superior; fem. of Ra’is

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

• In English, Russian from Greek; adaptable

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In Arabic, leader; chief

  as a name·African Muslim Names

• Slavonic: ‘paradise’.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• President.

  as a name·The African book of names

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●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 97 years between 1899–2015. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Raïssa Maritainb. 1883FRnot in their usual nameRussian poet and philosopher (1883-1960)
• Raisa Bergb. 1913FRRussian geneticist and evolutive biologist
• Raisa Akhmatovab. 1928RUpoet (1928–1992)
• Raisa Gorbachevab. 1932RUwife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1932–1999)
• Raisa Ryazanovab. 1944RUSoviet and Russian actress
• Raisa Smetaninab. 1952RUSoviet cross-country skier
• Raisa Bogatyrovab. 1953UAUkrainian politician
• Raisa O'Farrillb. 1972CUCuban volleyball player (1972–2023)
• Francia Raisab. 1988USAmerican actress
• Raisa Andrianab. 1990IDIndonesian singer (1990-)

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 · 612 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Raisa?

We estimate roughly 174 thousand people bear Raisa (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Raisa have the most bearers?

Raisa is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled раиса.

Where is Raisa most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Raisa is densest in Moldova — about 1 in 202 people — even though Russia holds more of our records for it.

How common is Raisa compared with other names?

In Russia, Raisa is the 67th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Raisa a male or female name?

Raisa 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 Raisa mean?

Recorded meaning: A transliteration of the Russian female given name Раи́са (Raísa).