Clarisa
Feminine · “bright”
Clarisa is the Spanish spelling of a name built on the Latin word for bright, and it has an unusual pedigree: a medieval religious order, an eighteenth-century novel that was for a time the longest in the English language, and a steady twentieth-century life in Spanish-speaking countries. Its American peak is 1994, at the top six hundred and sixty-four.
How old is the name Clarisa?
Clarisa first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Clarisa alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 3,100 people named Clarisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Clarisa most popular?
Clarisa peaked in 1994, reaching #664 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 5,058 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From clarus to Clarisa
The story of Clarisa
Saint Clare of Assisi, who founded the order known in English as the Poor Clares and in Spanish as the Clarisas, gave the name its medieval standing across Catholic Europe. The elaborated Clarissa appears in England from the medieval period and became famous in 1748, when Samuel Richardson published Clarissa, a novel of nearly a million words that was widely read across Europe. Spanish kept the shorter Clarisa, and it remained in ordinary use through the twentieth century in Spain, Mexico and the Andes. American records show it rising through the 1980s and peaking in the mid-1990s, alongside Clarissa and Clara.
Meaning
bright, clear, famous
Latin clarus means bright and clear in the literal sense and famous or distinguished in the extended one — the same word behind clarity, declare and clarion. Clara is its feminine used as a name; Clarissa and Clarisa are elaborations formed with a Latin superlative-flavored ending. The Spanish spelling with one s is the standard one in Spanish-speaking countries, where double consonants are far rarer than in English.
How the name formed
- clarus
- Clara
- Clarissa
- Clarisa
Related forms: Clarisa · Clarissa · Chiara · Claire · Klara
Pronouncing Clarisa
klah-REE-sah
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with a clean single s. English speakers often say kluh-RISS-uh, with the short i of the English Clarissa, and both are heard on American bearers depending on which language the speaker is reading in.
Nicknames for Clarisa
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 1994323 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #664reached in 1994
- Change vs 2023
- +162.5%21 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Clarisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Clarisa in Spanish — same name
- Clarissa in English — spelling variant
- Chiara in Italian — related form
- Claire in French — related form
- Klara in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Clarisas among us
people named Clarisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Clarisa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Charla test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Clarisa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Charla climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Charla's path sketches the road Clarisa is walking now.
Clarisa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Clarisa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Clarisa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, positive and expressible in a single word.
- Clara and Clari are both available and both entirely traditional.
- It is phonetic in Spanish and easily readable in English.
- Clarissa with two s's is far more common in English and hers will be written that way.
- The stressed vowel is said differently in English and Spanish.
- It is close enough to Clarice, Clara and Carissa to be misheard.
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What they receive
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Clarisa
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Clarisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,100 people named Clarisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Clarisa in 2025?
- Clarisa ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Clarisa?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Clarisa — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Clarisa with classmates?
- Clarisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Clarisa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Clarisa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Clarisa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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