Raissa
A feminine name of Russian origin meaning "joyful" or "delightful".
Name Census estimates that about 521 living Americans carry the first name Raissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Raissa today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raissa births was 1989 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raissa. 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 Raissa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
521
~ 1 in 657,878 Americans
Peak year
1989
20 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,870
Tracked since 1959
Census
Raissa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,161 people with the first name Raissa, which placed it at #11,179 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
#11,179
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,161 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raissa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raissa is White at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Black (24.8%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Raissa 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 Raissa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.2% · 501
- Black or African American24.8% · 288
- Hispanic or Latino17.6% · 204
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.0% · 116
- Two or more races3.8% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 8
Popularity
Raissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raissa from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 132 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
Raissa 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 Raissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raissas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Raissa
The name Raissa is believed to have originated from the Russian language. It is a feminine form of the name Rais, which is derived from the Arabic name Rais, meaning "leader" or "chief." The name Raissa gained popularity in Russia during the Middle Ages, particularly among the nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Raissa can be found in the 12th century, when it was borne by a Russian princess named Raissa Rostislavna (born around 1160). She was the daughter of Prince Rostislav Mstislavich and married Vsevolod the Big Nest, the Grand Prince of Vladimir.
In the 16th century, Raissa Solntseva (1550-1597) was a prominent Russian noblewoman and courtier during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. She served as a lady-in-waiting to Tsarina Maria Nagaya and was known for her beauty and intelligence.
Another notable figure in Russian history was Raissa Andreyevna Volkonskaya (1668-1731), a Russian noble and landowner who played a significant role in the development of the Volkonsky family estate in the Tula region.
In the 19th century, Raissa Platonovna Smirnova (1809-1891) was a Russian philanthropist and founder of the Smirnov Educational Institute, one of the first higher education institutions for women in Russia.
In the 20th century, Raissa Maritain (1883-1960) was a Russian-born French writer and philosopher, known for her work on Catholic spirituality and her collaboration with her husband, the philosopher Jacques Maritain.
While the name Raissa has its roots in Russia and was historically associated with the nobility and upper classes, it has since gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with strong Russian cultural influences or connections.
People
Raissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raissa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Raissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 521 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raissa 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 657,878 US residents.
Is Raissa a common name?
We classify Raissa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 545 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Raissa was 1989, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raissa is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raissa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,161 people with the name Raissa, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,179 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 Raissa 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 Raissa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raissa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,160 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Raissa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raissa is White at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Black (24.8%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Raissa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Raissa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.2% (501 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 Raissa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raissa 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 Raissa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raissa 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 Raissa 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 are named Raissa?
Find out how many people share the name Raissa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.