Marisa
Latin name meaning "of the sea" or "bitter".
Name Census estimates that about 45,752 living Americans carry the first name Marisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marisa today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marisa births was 1995 (2,198 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marisa. 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 Marisa with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Marisa is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 66 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Marisa have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
46K
~ 1 in 7,492 Americans
Peak year
1995
2,198 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1993 SSA rank
#3,927
Tracked since 1934
Census
Marisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 48,702 people with the first name Marisa, which placed it at #921 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
#921
National first-name rank
People counted
49K
48,702 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
16.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marisa is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.3%) 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 Marisa 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 Marisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.1% · 26,337
- Hispanic or Latino33.3% · 16,198
- Black or African American4.1% · 1,987
- Two or more races4.1% · 1,974
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 1,876
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 330
Gender
Gender distribution for Marisa
Out of the 48,749 babies given the name Marisa since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Marisa as a male name
- Ranked #7,318 in 1993
- 7 male births in 1993
- Peak: 1977 (13 births)
Marisa as a female name
- Ranked #3,927 in 2024
- 38 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (2,198 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 48,703 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Marisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marisa from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 15,544 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
Marisa 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 Marisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marisas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Marisa, while Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 897 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marisa
The name Marisa is a feminine name derived from the Latin name Maria, which is a variant of the Hebrew name Miriam. The name Maria has its roots in ancient Judeo-Christian traditions and is associated with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ in the New Testament of the Bible.
The name Marisa is believed to have originated in Italy during the Middle Ages as a diminutive form of Maria. It gained popularity across Europe, especially in Spain, Portugal, and other regions with a strong Catholic influence. The name was likely influenced by the veneration of the Virgin Mary in various Catholic traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marisa can be found in the 13th century, when it appeared in Italian historical records and literary works. During the Renaissance period, the name gained further prominence, particularly in Italy and other parts of southern Europe.
Historically, several notable individuals have borne the name Marisa. One of the earliest examples is Marisa da Siena, an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious who lived in the 14th century and is revered as a Blessed in the Catholic Church.
Another notable figure is Marisa Mell, an Austrian actress and model born in 1939, who appeared in numerous Italian and international films during the 1960s and 1970s. She was known for her roles in classic Spaghetti Western movies and is remembered as a prominent figure in Italian cinema.
In the realm of literature, Marisa Madieri was an Italian writer and journalist born in 1938, renowned for her contributions to contemporary Italian literature and her work as a cultural critic.
The name Marisa has also been associated with individuals in the arts and entertainment industry. Marisa Tomei, an American actress born in 1964, is a notable example. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film "My Cousin Vinny" in 1992.
Marisa Paredes, a Spanish actress born in 1946, is another prominent figure who has made significant contributions to the film industry, particularly in Spanish and European cinema. She is renowned for her roles in acclaimed films such as "All About My Mother" and "The Flower of My Secret."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Marisa
People
Marisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marisa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 45,752 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marisa 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 7,492 US residents.
Is Marisa a common name?
We classify Marisa as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48,749 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Marisa was 1995, when 2,198 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marisa is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 48,702 people with the name Marisa, or 16.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #921 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 Marisa 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 Marisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 48,703 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Marisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marisa is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.3%) 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 Marisa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.1% (26,337 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 Marisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marisa a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Marisa 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 Marisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marisa 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 Marisa 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 Marisa as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Marisa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.