Crissa
A feminine variant of the name "Crispus", of Latin origin meaning "curly-haired".
Name Census estimates that about 395 living Americans carry the first name Crissa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Crissa today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Crissa births was 1987 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Crissa. 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
395
~ 1 in 867,733 Americans
Peak year
1987
18 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2011 SSA rank
#15,258
Tracked since 1961
Census
Crissa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 415 people with the first name Crissa, which placed it at #23,539 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
#23,539
National first-name rank
People counted
415
415 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Crissa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Crissa is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Crissa 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 Crissa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.3% · 300
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 35
- Two or more races7.0% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 23
- Black or African American5.1% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 7
Popularity
Crissa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Crissa from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 108 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Crissa 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 Crissa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Crissas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Crissa
The name Crissa is derived from the ancient Greek word "krissa," which means "a Cretan woman." Its roots can be traced back to the island of Crete, located in the Mediterranean Sea. This name has been in use since antiquity, with references dating back to the Minoan civilization that flourished on Crete from around 2700 to 1450 BC.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Crissa can be found in the ancient Greek epic poem, the Odyssey, written by Homer around the 8th century BC. In this work, Crissa is mentioned as a town located on the island of Crete, known for its legendary hospitality and rich cultural heritage.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Crissa. One such figure was Crissa of Camirus (born c. 550 BC), a celebrated Greek poet from the island of Rhodes. Her poetic works, though now lost, were highly regarded in ancient times and praised for their lyrical beauty and insightful observations on life and love.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Saint Crissa (c. 300 AD), a Christian martyr who lived during the Roman persecution of Christians. According to legend, she was executed for her unwavering faith, and her martyrdom inspired many to convert to Christianity in the region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
In the Middle Ages, Crissa di Monteluce (c. 1190 - c. 1270) was an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts. She is credited with commissioning several important works of art and architecture, including the construction of a church and a bridge in her hometown of Perugia, Italy.
During the Renaissance period, Crissa Borghese (1584 - 1633) was an Italian painter and poet. She was renowned for her exceptional talent in portraiture and her ability to capture the essence of her subjects on canvas. Her literary works, which included sonnets and poems, were also highly regarded during her lifetime.
More recently, Crissa Pavlakis (1923 - 2008) was a prominent Greek-American author and educator. She wrote several novels and short stories that explored themes of identity, cultural assimilation, and the immigrant experience. Her works were widely acclaimed and helped to shed light on the challenges faced by Greek-Americans in the 20th century.
People
Crissa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Crissa 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
Crissa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Crissa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 395 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Crissa 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 867,733 US residents.
Is Crissa a common name?
We classify Crissa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 420 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Crissa most popular?
The single biggest year for Crissa was 1987, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Crissa is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Crissa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 415 people with the name Crissa, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,539 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 Crissa 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 Crissa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Crissa appears almost entirely female. Of the 421 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 Crissa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Crissa is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Crissa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Crissa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (300 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 Crissa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Crissa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Crissa 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 Crissa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Crissa 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 Crissa 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 Crissa?
Want to know how many people have the name Crissa? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.