Julissa
Feminine · “An elaborated form of Julia”
Julissa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 25,888 girls against 11 boys since 1880.
Julissa takes one of the oldest names in the Western record — Julia, borne by Roman women of the Julian family before the Republic ended — and gives it the soft -issa ending that Marissa, Alissa and Clarissa share. It grew up in the United States and in Spanish-speaking households, and it works in two languages without changing a letter: joo-LISS-uh in English, hoo-LEE-sah in Spanish.
How old is the name Julissa?
Julissa first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Julissa alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 25,500 people named Julissa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Julissa most popular?
Julissa peaked in 1997, reaching #219 nationally. Today it ranks #1135, 916 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Iulius to Julissa
The story of Julissa
Julia belonged to the women of the gens Julia in Rome, and traveled from Latin into nearly every European language — Julie in French, Giulia in Italian, Julia in Spanish, Portuguese and German. Julissa is a much later development: the base name extended with the -issa ending that English and Spanish speakers in the Americas used freely through the twentieth century, giving Marissa, Alissa, Jalissa and Nerissa. It appears in US records within living memory rather than deep history, and it is written both Julissa and Yulissa, the second spelling following Spanish orthography. Its strongest footing has been in states with large Spanish-speaking populations — California, Texas, Illinois.
Meaningscholars disagree
An elaborated form of Julia; Julia's own root is contested
Julia comes from the Roman family name Julius, whose meaning was already unclear to the Romans themselves. Two readings compete: a link to the Greek 'ioulos', the soft down of a first beard, taken to mean youthful; and a link to Jove, the god Jupiter, which is how the Julian family itself explained its name. Julissa adds a suffix rather than a meaning, so nothing is settled on that side either.
How the name formed
- Iulius
- Iulia
- Julia
- Julissa
Related forms: Yulissa · Julisa · Julia · Giulia · Julie · Yuliya
Pronouncing Julissa
joo-LISS-uh
In Spanish the J is pronounced as an H and the vowels open out: hoo-LEE-sah. Both are correct for the same spelling, and many families use whichever fits the language being spoken.
Nicknames for Julissa
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
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 20071,502 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #219reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- −15.6%205 in 2025, from 243
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.
Julissa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yulissa in Spanish — spelling variant
- Julisa in Spanish — spelling variant
- Julia in Spanish / Portuguese — related form
- Giulia in Italian — related form
- Julie in French — related form
- Yuliya in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Illinois.
Julissas among us
people named Julissa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,840 born in 2025 was named Julissa
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 Therese test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Julissa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Therese climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Therese's path sketches the road Julissa is walking now.
Julissa 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
Where Julissa is headed
Julissa is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Julissa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Julissa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Built on Julia, a name known in English, Spanish, Italian, French, German and Portuguese, so the root is recognized almost anywhere.
- Reads correctly in both English and Spanish without a change of spelling.
- Short forms already exist and need no explaining: Juli, Julie, Jules, Lissa.
- Familiar in sound while rarely duplicated — the -issa pattern is well known even where the full name is not.
- Julissa, Yulissa and Julisa all circulate, so expect to spell it out and to hear the other versions guessed first.
- It sits close to Julia, Jalissa and Melissa, and is sometimes misheard as one of them over the phone.
- The -issa ending had a clear era of popularity in the United States, which gives the name a datable feel to people who grew up alongside it.
- It is stepping back from its high point rather than rising, so a Julissa today will likely be the only one in her class — pleasant for some families, a little exposed for others.
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What they receive
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Julissa
Feminine · #1135 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Julissas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 25,500 people named Julissa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Julissa in 2025?
- Julissa ranks #1135 among US girl names in 2025, with 205 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Julissa?
- About 1 in every 7,840 US girls born in 2025 was named Julissa — 205 in all.
- Will my child share the name Julissa with classmates?
- Julissa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Julissa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ailana#1135 · Emmalyn#1137 · Grecia#1137 · Sailor#1132 · Hollis#1132 · Kaya#1132 · Kamari#1139 · Allyson#1139
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Julissa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Julissa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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