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Home › Baby Names Directory › Caressa

Caressa

♀ Girl

How to Pronounce Caressa

Pronounced kuh-RES-uh /kəˈrɛs.ə/Medium

Meaning: Caressa is a name built on the word caress, from the French caresse and Italian carezza, 'a tender touch or endearment' — themselves rooted in the Latin carus, 'dear.' With its added -a it also echoes Carissa and Clarissa, giving it both a soft word-meaning and a familiar name shape.Low

In 30 seconds: Caressa elaborates the word 'caress' (a tender touch), echoing Carissa. It peaked around 1987 and reads as a soft eighties name.
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Origin LowFrench, English
MeaningCaressa is a name built on the word caress, from the French caresse and Italian carezza, 'a tender touch or endearment' — themselves rooted in the Latin carus, 'dear.' With its added -a it also echoes Carissa and Clarissa, giving it both a soft word-meaning and a familiar name shape.
U.S. rank (2014)#9672 ↗ Rising
2014 U.S. births11 girls (0.00% of U.S. girls)
Peak year1987
Total births (all-time)≈ 1,218

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

peak 198719562014

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Caressa is an elaboration of the word caress, from the French caresse, 'a tender touch,' and ultimately the Latin carus, 'dear.' The added -a aligns it with Carissa and Clarissa, so it reads as both a word-name and a soft, familiar-sounding girls' name.

Caressa crested around 1987 at roughly seventy girls a year and eased off through the following decades. A Caressa from the peak is in her late thirties now. It reads as a gentle name of its era, only lightly touched by the word-name and Clarissa revivals.

Did you know? Caress-based names arrived with a wave of gentle, romantic coinages in the later century — the word literally means an affectionate touch — and the -a ending nudges Caressa toward the Carissa/Clarissa family.
Overall data confidence 56%
References — Caressa — From word 'caress' (French caresse, Latin carus 'dear'); echoes Carissa

Variations

CarissaCaresseClarissa

Nicknames

CaraRessa

Famous Bearers

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If you like Caressa…

Carissa— the closest name-family cousin of Caressa
Clarissa— a like -issa/-essa soft girls' name
Marissa— a same-era flowing three-beat name
Larissa— a comparable -issa vintage-to-modern name

Explore names like Caressa

By themeword-namefrenchromantic1980s

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Caressa mean?

Caressa comes from the word caress, from the French for 'a tender touch,' ultimately the Latin for 'dear'; it also echoes Carissa.

How do you pronounce Caressa?

It's said kuh-RES-uh /kəˈrɛs.ə/ — three syllables, stress on the middle.

Is Caressa a boy or girl name?

Caressa is used as a girl's name.

How popular is Caressa?

Caressa was an uncommon soft-sounding name that peaked in the late nineteen-eighties and has grown rarer since.

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