Klarisa
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "bright" or "clear".
Name Census estimates that about 241 living Americans carry the first name Klarisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Klarisa today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Klarisa births was 1994 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Klarisa. 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 Klarisa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
241
~ 1 in 1,422,217 Americans
Peak year
1994
19 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2016 SSA rank
#15,349
Tracked since 1984
Census
Klarisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246 people with the first name Klarisa, which placed it at #33,566 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
#33,566
National first-name rank
People counted
246
246 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
54.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Klarisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Klarisa is Hispanic at 54.5%. The next largest groups are White (37.0%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Klarisa 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 Klarisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino54.5% · 134
- White37.0% · 91
- Black or African American4.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 5
- Two or more races2.0% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Klarisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Klarisa from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 108 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
Klarisa 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 Klarisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Klarisas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Klarisa
The name Klarisa has its origins in the Latin language and is derived from the ancient Roman name Clarissius or Clarissimus. These Latin words meant "most brilliant" or "most illustrious." The name likely originated as a nickname or cognomen given to individuals who possessed qualities of brightness or distinction.
Klarisa can be traced back to various ancient Roman texts and historical records from the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire periods. It was a name used among the upper classes and nobility of ancient Rome. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name dates back to the 1st century AD, when a Roman woman named Klarisa Antonia was mentioned in a historical account by the Roman historian Tacitus.
During the Middle Ages, the name Klarisa gained popularity in many European countries, particularly in regions influenced by Latin and Romance languages. It was often associated with religious figures and saints, such as Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253), who was the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies, also known as the Poor Clares.
Notable historical figures with the name Klarisa include Klarisa Strozzi (1619-1677), an Italian poet and writer from the Baroque period. Another famous bearer of the name was Klarisa Harlowe (1720-1768), the fictional protagonist of the novel "Clarissa" by Samuel Richardson, which is considered one of the longest novels in the English language.
In the 19th century, Klarisa von Rennenkampff (1810-1848) was a German writer and poet who gained recognition for her romantic poetry. Klarisa Fuentes (1938-1998) was a renowned Cuban singer and songwriter known for her contributions to the Nueva Trova movement in Latin American music.
Another notable figure was Klarisa Michailovna Artsybusheva (1892-1986), a Russian painter and illustrator who was part of the avant-garde art movement in the early 20th century. She was recognized for her innovative use of color and abstract styles.
People
Klarisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Klarisa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Klarisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Klarisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 241 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Klarisa 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 1,422,217 US residents.
Is Klarisa a common name?
We classify Klarisa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 247 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Klarisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Klarisa was 1994, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Klarisa is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Klarisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246 people with the name Klarisa, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,566 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 Klarisa 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 Klarisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Klarisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 239 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 Klarisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Klarisa is Hispanic at 54.5%. The next largest groups are White (37.0%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Klarisa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Klarisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.5% (134 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 Klarisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Klarisa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Klarisa 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 Klarisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Klarisa 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 Klarisa 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 Americans are named Klarisa?
Want to know how many Americans are named Klarisa? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.