Arissa
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly derived from "Aras".
Name Census estimates that about 2,412 living Americans carry the first name Arissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arissa today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arissa births was 2003 (221 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arissa. 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 Arissa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 142,104 Americans
Peak year
2003
221 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,661
Tracked since 1970
Census
Arissa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,982 people with the first name Arissa, which placed it at #7,628 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
#7,628
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,982 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
32.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arissa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arissa is White at 32.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.2%) and Black (15.7%). 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 Arissa 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 Arissa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White32.8% · 650
- Hispanic or Latino30.2% · 599
- Black or African American15.7% · 312
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.9% · 255
- Two or more races7.0% · 139
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 27
Popularity
Arissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arissa from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,083 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arissa 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 Arissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arissas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Arissa, while Wisconsin, Virginia, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arissa
The given name Arissa is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language. The name is a variant of the Arabic name Arisa, which means "bride" or "newly married woman." This name gained popularity in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in regions where Arabic was the predominant language.
Historically, the name Arissa can be traced back to ancient Arabic literature and poetry, where it was often used as a poetic term to describe a beautiful and virtuous woman. However, there are no definitive records of the name appearing in religious scriptures or historical texts from that era.
The earliest recorded use of the name Arissa dates back to the 9th century CE, when it was mentioned in an Arabic manuscript chronicling the lives of notable women in the region. One of the earliest known individuals to bear this name was Arissa al-Qurashiyya, a renowned poetess and scholar who lived in Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 CE).
Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the name Arissa. In the 12th century, Arissa al-Hamdaniyya was a influential Muslim scholar and philosopher from modern-day Syria. During the 14th century, Arissa al-Andalusiyya was a celebrated poet and musician from the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal).
In more recent times, Arissa Nimira Putri was an Indonesian actress and singer who gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Arissa Larasati is a contemporary Indonesian model and television personality born in 1989.
While the name Arissa has Arabic roots, it has also gained recognition and usage in various cultures and regions around the world, particularly in areas with significant Muslim populations or influence from Arabic culture.
People
Arissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arissa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Arissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,412 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arissa 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 142,104 US residents.
Is Arissa a common name?
We classify Arissa as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,458 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Arissa was 2003, when 221 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arissa is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arissa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,982 people with the name Arissa, or 0.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,628 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 Arissa 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 Arissa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arissa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,984 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 Arissa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arissa is White at 32.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.2%) and Black (15.7%). 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 Arissa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arissa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 32.8% (650 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 Arissa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arissa 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 Arissa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arissa 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 Arissa 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 have the name Arissa?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Arissa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.