Clarisse
Feminine · “bright”
Clarisse is the French member of a family with three national forms: Spanish Clarisa, English Clarissa, French Clarisse. The differences are entirely orthographic — one s or two, a final vowel or none — and each spelling tells you which language a family was reading in. Clarisse's American peak is 1899, which puts it with the wave of French and Creole naming in Louisiana and New England.
How old is the name Clarisse?
Clarisse first appears in US birth records in 1899 — 126 years ago. The typical Clarisse alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 1,300 people named Clarisse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Clarisse most popular?
Clarisse peaked in 1899, reaching #1394 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 4,328 places below that high. See the whole 1899 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From clarus to Clarisse
The story of Clarisse
Saint Clare of Assisi founded the order that French calls the Clarisses, and that word is the direct ancestor of the French given name — it named the nuns before it named any girl. Clarisse appears in French literature from the seventeenth century and was well established by the nineteenth. In America the name arrived twice: with French and Acadian settlement in Louisiana and the Gulf, where French naming persisted for generations, and with Quebecois migration into New England mill towns in the late nineteenth century. Both communities were at their most visible in the American records around 1900, which is where the peak sits.
Meaning
bright, clear, famous
Latin clarus covers brightness, clarity and renown in one word, and it is the root of clarify, declare and clarion. Clara is the plain feminine; the -issa and -isse forms are medieval elaborations built with a Latin ending that suggests, without strictly meaning, a superlative. French dropped the final vowel as it dropped almost every final vowel, leaving Clarisse with a silent e that marks the preceding consonant rather than adding a syllable.
How the name formed
- clarus
- Clara
- Clarisse
Related forms: Clarisse · Clarissa · Clarisa · Chiara
Pronouncing Clarisse
klah-REES
Two syllables in French, stress at the end, with a long e and a silent final vowel. English speakers add a third syllable — kluh-RISS-uh — by reading the e, or say kluh-REES with the French stress. All three are heard on American bearers.
Nicknames for Clarisse
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
- 1899
- Most girls named
- 200136 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1394reached in 1899
- Change vs 2023
- +5.0%21 in 2025, from 20
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.
Clarisse in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Clarisse in French — same name
- Clarissa in English — related form
- Clarisa in Spanish — related form
- Chiara in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Clarisses among us
people named Clarisse are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Clarisse
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Clarisse 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
Clarisse beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Clarisse 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.
- Claire is available as an internationally recognized short form.
- The French spelling is distinctive without being unreadable in English.
- Three national spellings circulate and hers will be written as one of the others.
- The final e is silent in French and sounded by many English speakers.
- It is close to Clarice, Clara and Charisse in sound and will be misheard.
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What they receive
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Clarisse
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Clarisses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Clarisse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Clarisse in 2025?
- Clarisse ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Clarisse?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Clarisse — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Clarisse with classmates?
- Clarisse will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Clarisse
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 Clarisse? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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