Corissa
A feminine given name derived from the Greek word "kore" meaning "maiden" or "young woman".
Name Census estimates that about 1,947 living Americans carry the first name Corissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Corissa today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Corissa births was 1990 (101 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Corissa. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 176,042 Americans
Peak year
1990
101 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,423
Tracked since 1964
Census
Corissa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,768 people with the first name Corissa, which placed it at #8,244 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
#8,244
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,768 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Corissa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Corissa is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Corissa 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 Corissa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 1,317
- Black or African American9.1% · 161
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 141
- Two or more races6.1% · 107
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 15
Popularity
Corissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Corissa from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 718 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
Corissa 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 Corissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Corissas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Corissa, while Kentucky, Indiana, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Corissa
The name Corissa is a feminine given name of uncertain origin, but it is believed to have roots in Greek and Latin languages. Some scholars suggest that it may be derived from the Greek word "kore," meaning "maiden" or "young woman," while others trace its origins to the Latin word "cor," meaning "heart."
Corissa was likely first used as a name during the ancient Greek and Roman eras, although there are no definitive records of its earliest appearances. It is possible that the name was used by families of Greek or Roman descent in various parts of the Mediterranean region and the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
Throughout history, there are a few notable individuals who bore the name Corissa. In the 4th century AD, Corissa of Tyre was a Christian martyr and saint who was executed for her faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Another historical figure with this name was Corissa of Constantinople, a Byzantine noblewoman who lived in the 6th century AD and was known for her philanthropic work.
In the medieval period, there are records of a Corissa de Montfort, who was a French noblewoman and the wife of Simon de Montfort, a prominent leader during the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in the early 13th century. A few centuries later, in the 16th century, there was a Corissa Gonzaga, an Italian noblewoman and member of the powerful Gonzaga family of Mantua.
During the Renaissance, a notable figure named Corissa Marinella lived in Venice in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. She was a writer and philosopher who advocated for women's rights and education, and her works, such as "The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men," were influential in their time.
While the name Corissa has been relatively rare throughout history, it has maintained a presence in various cultures and regions, likely due to its aesthetic appeal and possible connections to concepts such as youth, beauty, and nobility. However, its exact origins and the reasons for its usage remain somewhat enigmatic, adding to the name's mystique and charm.
People
Corissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Corissa 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
Corissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Corissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,947 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Corissa 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 176,042 US residents.
Is Corissa a common name?
We classify Corissa as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,047 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Corissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Corissa was 1990, when 101 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Corissa is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Corissa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,768 people with the name Corissa, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,244 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 Corissa 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 Corissa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Corissa appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,758 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Corissa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Corissa is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Corissa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Corissa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (1,317 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 Corissa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Corissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Corissa 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 Corissa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Corissa 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 Corissa 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 are named Corissa?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.