Marisa
Feminine · “bitter”
Marisa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 48,707 girls against 66 boys since 1880.
Marisa is a blend — Maria joined to Luisa or to Isabella, in the Italian and Spanish habit of running two family names together into one. It is a real practice with a long record, not an invention.
How old is the name Marisa?
Marisa first appears in US birth records in 1934 — 91 years ago. The typical Marisa alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 47,000 people named Marisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marisa most popular?
Marisa peaked in 1994, reaching #147 nationally. Today it ranks #5099, 4,952 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From María Luisa to Marisa
The story of Marisa
Italy and Spain both form compound given names by running two together — Marisol from María Soledad, Maribel from María Isabel, Marisa from María Luisa or María Isabel. The practice is centuries old and produces names that function independently of their parts. Marisa spread beyond Italian and Spanish-speaking families in the twentieth century, and American use rose through the 1960s to a peak in the late 1970s.
Meaningscholars disagree
bitter; beloved; sea — and famous warrior
As a compound, it carries two meanings at once. Maria goes back to the Hebrew Miryam, whose sense has never been settled. The second element is Luisa, from the Germanic hlud and wig, 'famous warrior', or Isabella, a form of Elizabeth. Some accounts instead read the whole name from the Latin maris, 'of the sea', which is a folk etymology of Maria rather than of Marisa.
How the name formed
- María Luisa
- Marisa
Related forms: Marisa · Marisa · Marisol · Marissa
Pronouncing Marisa
muh-REE-suh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Italian and Spanish give the s a softer, more voiced quality than English does.
Nicknames for Marisa
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
- 1934
- Most girls named
- 19942,186 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #147reached in 1994
- Change vs 2023
- −44.4%25 in 2025, from 45
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.
Marisa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marisa in Italian — same name
- Marisa in Spanish — same name
- Marisol in Spanish — related form
- Marissa in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Marisas among us
people named Marisa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was named Marisa
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 Doreen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marisa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Doreen climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Doreen's path sketches the road Marisa is walking now.
Marisa 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 Marisa is headed
Marisa should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Marisa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marisa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is formed by a genuine and productive Romance-language rule rather than invented.
- Standard in Italian and Spanish, so it crosses those borders without adjustment.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries well.
- Marissa with a double s is commoner in American records and will often be assumed.
- As a compound it inherits the unsettled meaning of Maria rather than solving it.
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What they receive
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Marisa
Feminine · #5099 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marisas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 47,000 people named Marisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marisa in 2025?
- Marisa ranks #5099 among US girl names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marisa?
- About 1 in every 64,291 US girls born in 2025 was named Marisa — 25 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marisa with classmates?
- Marisa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marisa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janette#5099 · Loraine#5099 · Delfina#5099 · Hali#5099 · Mecca#5099 · Zoi#5099 · Afia#5099 · Emelie#5099
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marisa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marisa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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