Karisa
Feminine · “dear”
The k makes a Latin word look like a modern name. Written with a c, this is a form of an ordinary Latin adjective that Italian still uses daily; written with a k, it reads as a twentieth-century American coinage, and the only thing that changed is the first letter.
How old is the name Karisa?
Karisa first appears in US birth records in 1961 — 64 years ago. The typical Karisa alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 2,700 people named Karisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Karisa most popular?
Karisa peaked in 1992, reaching #1109 nationally. See the whole 1992 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From carus to Karisa
The story of Karisa
Latin had no k in normal use; it wrote the sound with a c, and every language that inherited its alphabet did the same until Germanic and Slavic spelling brought the k back into general European use. That history is why the letter now signals what it does: a c looks classical and a k looks northern or modern. Swapping one for the other changes nothing audible and everything about how a name is read. Karisa and Carisa are the same name in speech and two different centuries on the page.
Meaningscholars disagree
dear
The Latin carus means dear. Whether a particular family had that in mind or simply liked the sound is not something the record answers, and the k spelling suggests the second.
How the name formed
- carus
- Carissa
- Karisa
Related forms: Carissima
Pronouncing Karisa
kuh-RISS-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The k and the c are said identically; only the look changes.
Nicknames for Karisa
Moderate
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
- 1961
- Most girls named
- 1992161 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1109reached in 1992
- Change vs 2023
- −37.5%5 in 2024, 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.
Karisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carissima in Italian — related form
Karisas among us
people named Karisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Karisa sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The stress in the middle gives it a lift most English names of its length do not have.
- The meaning behind it is warm, simple and easy to explain.
- Both short forms are usable and stand alone as names.
- Carissa is far commoner and will be written instead.
- The single s invites a z sound the name does not want.
- It reads clearly as a name of the second half of the twentieth century.
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Karisa
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Karisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Karisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Karisa in 2025?
- Karisa is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Karisa with classmates?
- Karisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Karisa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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