Clarrissa
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "bright, brilliant, or illustrious".
Name Census estimates that about 337 living Americans carry the first name Clarrissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Clarrissa today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clarrissa births was 1994 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clarrissa. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
337
~ 1 in 1,017,075 Americans
Peak year
1994
17 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2004 SSA rank
#10,882
Tracked since 1907
Census
Clarrissa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 352 people with the first name Clarrissa, which placed it at #26,438 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#26,438
National first-name rank
People counted
352
352 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clarrissa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clarrissa is White at 38.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.1%) and Hispanic (25.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Clarrissa described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Clarrissa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.6% · 136
- Black or African American28.1% · 99
- Hispanic or Latino25.3% · 89
- Two or more races4.8% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 3
Popularity
Clarrissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clarrissa from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 126 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Clarrissa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clarrissa by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Clarrissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clarrissas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Clarrissa
Clarrissa is a feminine given name derived from the Latin name Clarissa, which itself is a feminized form of the Roman family name Clarus. Clarus means "bright" or "clear" in Latin, reflecting the name's association with light, brilliance, and clarity.
The name Clarrissa emerged during the medieval period in Europe, particularly in regions influenced by Roman culture and the Latin language. It was a popular name among the nobility and upper classes, who often chose names with classical roots to reflect their status and education.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Clarrissa can be found in the 12th century, when St. Clare of Assisi, an Italian nun and follower of St. Francis of Assisi, was born with the name Chiara. Her name was later Latinized to Clarissa, which became the basis for the name Clarrissa.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Clarrissa. One of the most famous was Clarrissa Harlowe, the protagonist of the 18th-century novel "Clarissa" by Samuel Richardson (1689-1761). The novel, considered one of the earliest examples of the modern novel form, helped popularize the name in English-speaking countries.
Another prominent figure was Clarrissa Shropshire (1913-1973), an American civil rights activist and educator who played a significant role in the desegregation of schools in South Carolina. She was a key figure in the landmark Supreme Court case Briggs v. Elliott, which later became part of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.
In the literary world, Clarrissa Pinkola Estés (born 1945) is a renowned author, poet, and Jungian psychoanalyst best known for her book "Women Who Run With the Wolves," which explores the archetypal nature of women through the lens of folk tales and mythology.
Clarrissa Chatenay (1917-2018) was a French fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded the eponymous luxury fashion brand Chatenay. She was known for her elegant and sophisticated designs, which were favored by the French elite and international celebrities.
Lastly, Clarrissa Dalrymple (1734-1798) was a British courtier and author who served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III. She is best known for her lively and insightful correspondence, which provides a valuable glimpse into the social and political life of 18th-century England.
People
Clarrissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clarrissa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Clarrissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clarrissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 337 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clarrissa going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,017,075 US residents.
Is Clarrissa a common name?
We classify Clarrissa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 384 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clarrissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Clarrissa was 1994, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clarrissa is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clarrissa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 352 people with the name Clarrissa, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,438 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Clarrissa in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Clarrissa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clarrissa appears almost entirely female. Of the 354 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Clarrissa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clarrissa is White at 38.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.1%) and Hispanic (25.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Clarrissa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clarrissa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.6% (136 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Clarrissa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clarrissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clarrissa in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Clarrissa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clarrissa in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Clarrissa can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Clarrissa as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.