Home › Baby Names Directory › Clairissa
Clairissa
How to Pronounce Clairissa
Pronounced kluh-RISS-uh /kləˈrɪs.ə/Medium
Meaning: Clairissa is a respelling of Clarissa, an elaborated form of Clara from the Latin clarus, meaning 'bright, clear, or famous.' The added i in Clair- borrows the French Claire spelling of the same root.Low
Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data
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
Clairissa is a respelling of Clarissa, itself an elaboration of Clara from the Latin clarus, 'bright, clear, famous.' Clarissa carried literary weight from Samuel Richardson's eighteenth-century novel, and modern parents gave it many spellings. Clairissa first appears in United States birth records around 1975 and touched a small high around 1994.
It was never common, given to only a couple dozen girls a year even at its peak, with scattered use into the 2010s. A Clairissa from that high would be in her thirties now; the standard Clarissa remains the usual choice.
Variations
Nicknames
Famous Bearers
- Famous bearers coming soon.
If you like Clairissa…
Explore names like Clairissa
Frequently Asked
What does the name Clairissa mean?
It is a respelling of Clarissa, from the Latin clarus, meaning 'bright, clear, or famous.'
How do you pronounce Clairissa?
It's said kluh-RISS-uh /kləˈrɪs.ə/, three syllables with the stress in the middle.
Is Clairissa a boy or girl name?
Clairissa is used as a girl's name.
How popular is Clairissa?
It has always been rare, given to only a couple dozen girls a year at its peak in the mid nineteen-nineties.