Carlissa
A feminine variant of Carla, a name with Germanic roots meaning "free woman".
Name Census estimates that about 621 living Americans carry the first name Carlissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Carlissa today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carlissa births was 1989 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carlissa. 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.
People living today
621
~ 1 in 551,939 Americans
Peak year
1989
27 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2016 SSA rank
#16,752
Tracked since 1959
Popularity
Carlissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carlissa from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 193 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
Carlissa 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 Carlissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carlissas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Carlissa
The name Carlissa is a relatively modern feminine name that is believed to have originated as a combination of the names Carol and Melissa. It is a name of uncertain etymology, but it is thought to have roots in various European languages.
The name Carol is derived from the Latin name Carolus, meaning "free man" or "manly." It was a popular name during the Middle Ages, particularly after the reign of Charlemagne (742-814 AD), whose Latinized name was Carolus Magnus. The name Melissa, on the other hand, is of Greek origin, meaning "honey bee." It was a popular name in ancient Greece and was associated with the goddess of honey, bees, and fertility.
While there are no definitive historical references to the name Carlissa itself in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the components of the name, Carol and Melissa, have been used throughout history. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Carlissa can be found in the early 20th century, when it began to gain popularity in English-speaking countries.
One notable person named Carlissa was Carlissa King (born 1943), an American actress and singer who appeared in several television shows and films in the 1960s and 1970s. Another Carlissa of note was Carlissa Coburn (1937-2021), an American artist and sculptor known for her large-scale public art installations.
Other individuals named Carlissa include Carlissa Chappell (born 1985), an American actress and singer-songwriter; Carlissa Staffer (born 1972), an American financial advisor and author; and Carlissa Reyes (born 1991), a Filipino model and actress.
While the name Carlissa may not have a rich historical background like some other names, it has gained popularity in recent decades as a unique and melodic combination of two classic names. Its rise in usage reflects the growing trend of creating new names by blending traditional ones, allowing parents to give their children a distinctive and meaningful moniker.
People
Carlissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carlissa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Carlissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carlissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 621 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carlissa 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 551,939 US residents.
Is Carlissa a common name?
We classify Carlissa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 658 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carlissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Carlissa was 1989, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carlissa is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Carlissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Carlissa 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.
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.