Clarissa
Meaning of Clarissa
Clarissa traces its gleaming roots to the Latin clarus, “bright” or “clear,” a meaning that echoes the Persian word roshan and conjures the crisp light of dawn over Isfahan’s turquoise domes. Medieval Europe added the -issa flourish as a term of endearment for devotees of Saint Clare, and literature later carried the torch—Samuel Richardson’s tragic heroine and Virginia Woolf’s cool-headed Mrs Dalloway both answer to the name. In modern American data, Clarissa behaves less like a meteor and more like a well-polished lantern: never soaring into the top ranks yet refusing to gutter out, it has hovered between the 200s and 700s for over a century. The name therefore suits parents who appreciate a steady, luminous presence rather than a fleeting blaze of fashion. Pronounced kluh-RIS-uh, it offers familiar sounds without being over-played, and its built-in nickname options—Clary, Rissa, or the brisk Claire—allow room for personal style.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as kluh-RIS-uh (/kləˈrɪsə/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Clarissa
| Anne Clarissa Eden was an English memoirist and the wife of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden. |
| Clarissa Ward is a British-American journalist and CNN chief international correspondent who previously reported for CBS News and ABC News. |
| Clarissa Pinkola Estés - Clarissa Pinkola Estes is a Mexican-American writer and Jungian psychoanalyst best known for her bestselling book Women Who Run with the Wolves. |
| Clarissa Britain was an American inventor and educator who earned seven patents and founded the Niles Female Seminary in Michigan. |
| Clarissa Molina is a Dominican actress, model and television reporter who won Miss Dominican Republic 2015 and Nuestra Belleza Latina 2016. |
