Laurissa
Feminine
Laurissa joins a very old name to an ending borrowed from a small set of eighteenth-century coinages. One of those coinages has had an unusual afterlife: it is the scientific name of a group of butterflies.
How old is the name Laurissa?
Laurissa first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Laurissa alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 700 people named Laurissa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laurissa most popular?
Laurissa peaked in 1987, reaching #3624 nationally. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Laurissa
Jonathan Swift invented the name Vanessa for a woman he corresponded with, building it out of pieces of her real name, and used it in a long poem. It escaped into general use within a century. Then an entomologist, naming a genus of butterflies in the early nineteenth century, used it, apparently just because he liked the sound, and the red admiral and the painted lady have carried it ever since. So a name assembled by a satirist for a private joke is now the formal Latin designation of a group of insects on every continent except Antarctica, which is a considerably longer life than most private jokes manage.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Laura comes from the Latin for a laurel and that reading is settled. The doubled ending is borrowed from names like Clarissa and Vanessa, and this particular combination is not documented.
Pronouncing Laurissa
lor-ISS-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The doubled s keeps it sharp rather than buzzed.
Nicknames for Laurissa
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 199129 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3624reached in 1987
- Change vs 2018
- +40.0%7 in 2019, from 5
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.
Laurissas among us
people named Laurissa 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
Laurissa 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
- Laura and Rissa are both available as short forms and both are established.
- The stress is unmistakable, so it is rarely mispronounced on a first reading.
- Three syllables with a clear middle stress carry well across a room.
- Larissa and Laurisa are both in the record, so the spelling will be checked back with you.
- It sits close to Larissa, which is a different name with a Greek history.
- No origin is documented for the combination, so the meaning question belongs to the front half only.
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Laurissa
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Laurissas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Laurissa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Laurissa in 2025?
- Laurissa is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Laurissa with classmates?
- Laurissa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Laurissa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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