Marissah
A feminine name derived from Marie, meaning "bitter" or "beloved woman".
Name Census estimates that about 108 living Americans carry the first name Marissah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marissah today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marissah births was 1992 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marissah. 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
108
~ 1 in 3,173,651 Americans
Peak year
1992
9 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2012 SSA rank
#16,188
Tracked since 1992
Census
Marissah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 108 people with the first name Marissah, which placed it at #52,273 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
#52,273
National first-name rank
People counted
108
108 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marissah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marissah is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Two or More Races (11.1%). 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 Marissah 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 Marissah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.0% · 54
- Hispanic or Latino26.9% · 29
- Two or more races11.1% · 12
- Black or African American10.2% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 2
Popularity
Marissah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marissah from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 53 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marissah 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 Marissah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marissah
The name Marissah is a variant of the name Maria, which has its origins in the ancient Hebrew language. Maria was derived from the biblical name Miriam, meaning "bitter" or "beloved." The name Marissah likely emerged as a feminine form of the name Marius, a Roman family name derived from the Latin word "mas," meaning male.
In the Middle Ages, the name Maria gained widespread popularity across Europe due to its association with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ in Christian tradition. As a result, various spellings and diminutive forms of the name emerged, including Marissah.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marissah can be found in the 16th century, when it appeared in historical records from the Netherlands. During this period, the name was often spelled as "Marissa" or "Marissje."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Marissah or its variants. One of the earliest recorded figures was Marissa van Bronckhorst (1548-1618), a Dutch noblewoman and landowner from the province of Gelderland.
In the 18th century, Marissa Belgravia (1722-1790) was a renowned English poet and playwright whose works were widely acclaimed during her lifetime. Her most famous work, "The Trials of Love," was a popular theatrical production in London.
During the 19th century, Marissa Olofsdotter (1813-1891) was a Swedish painter known for her striking portraits and landscapes. Her works were exhibited in several prestigious galleries across Europe and are now part of various museum collections.
In the early 20th century, Marissa Fiorentino (1902-1981) was an Italian-American writer and activist who played a prominent role in the labor rights movement in the United States. Her memoir, "A Life of Struggle," chronicled her experiences as a factory worker and her advocacy for workers' rights.
More recently, Marissa Mayer (born 1975) is an American businesswoman who served as the CEO of Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017. She is widely recognized for her contributions to the tech industry and her efforts to revitalize the company during her tenure.
People
Marissah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marissah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marissah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marissah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 108 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marissah 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 3,173,651 US residents.
Is Marissah a common name?
We classify Marissah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 110 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marissah most popular?
The single biggest year for Marissah was 1992, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marissah is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marissah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 108 people with the name Marissah, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,273 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 Marissah 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 Marissah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marissah leans strongly female. 100 people counted with this name were female (97.1%), compared with 3 male bearers (2.9%). 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 Marissah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marissah is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Two or More Races (11.1%). 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 Marissah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marissah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (54 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 Marissah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marissah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marissah 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 Marissah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marissah 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 Marissah 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 share the name Marissah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.