Merissa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "the lady of the sea."
Name Census estimates that about 3,275 living Americans carry the first name Merissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Merissa today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merissa births was 1995 (172 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merissa. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Merissa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 104,658 Americans
Peak year
1995
172 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2019 SSA rank
#14,974
Tracked since 1962
Census
Merissa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,031 people with the first name Merissa, which placed it at #5,596 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
#5,596
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,031 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merissa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merissa is White at 65.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Black (8.5%). 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 Merissa 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 Merissa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.6% · 1,988
- Hispanic or Latino17.2% · 521
- Black or African American8.5% · 259
- Two or more races4.8% · 146
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 71
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 46
Popularity
Merissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merissa from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,400 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merissa 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 Merissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merissas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Merissa, while Oklahoma, Louisiana, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merissa
The name Merissa is believed to have its origins in ancient Greece, derived from the Greek word "meris," which means "a portion" or "a part." It is thought to have been initially used as a feminine form of the male name Meris.
In Greek mythology, Merissa was the name of a nymph who was one of the companions of the goddess Artemis, the huntress and protector of young girls. This association with a mythological figure may have contributed to the name's early popularity in the Greek world.
The earliest recorded use of the name Merissa dates back to the 5th century BC, when it appeared in ancient Greek texts and inscriptions. It was particularly prevalent in the regions of ancient Greece, such as Athens and Sparta, where it was often given to girls born into noble or wealthy families.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Merissa. One of the earliest was Merissa of Ephesus (c. 300 BC), a renowned philosopher and teacher who was known for her expertise in the teachings of Plato and Aristotle.
In the 2nd century AD, Merissa of Alexandria was a celebrated mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics. Her work influenced the development of astronomical theories and calculations for centuries to come.
During the Byzantine Empire, Merissa Doukas (c. 1060 – 1122) was a prominent figure in the imperial court. She was the wife of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and played a vital role in the political and diplomatic affairs of the empire.
In the Renaissance period, Merissa Strozzi (1519 – 1585) was an Italian poet and scholar who was renowned for her literary works and her patronage of the arts. She was a member of the influential Strozzi family and hosted a prominent literary salon in Florence.
In more recent times, Merissa Rashleigh (1805 – 1849) was a British writer and traveler who documented her journeys through Europe and the Middle East in her published works, which were popular in the Victorian era.
While the name Merissa has its roots in ancient Greece, it has been adopted and used across different cultures and time periods, often as a variant of the more common name Maria or Mary. However, its origins and historical significance remain deeply rooted in the mythology, philosophy, and scholarly traditions of ancient Greek civilization.
People
Merissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merissa 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
Merissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,275 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merissa 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 104,658 US residents.
Is Merissa a common name?
We classify Merissa as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,412 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Merissa was 1995, when 172 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merissa is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merissa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,031 people with the name Merissa, or 1.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,596 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 Merissa 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 Merissa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merissa appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,035 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Merissa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merissa is White at 65.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Black (8.5%). 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 Merissa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merissa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.6% (1,988 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 Merissa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merissa 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 Merissa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merissa 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 Merissa 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 Merissa?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.