Merrisa
A feminine name of undetermined origin potentially meaning "to rejoice" or "rejoicing".
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Merrisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Merrisa today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merrisa births was 1994 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merrisa. 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
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
1994
19 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1999 SSA rank
#12,221
Tracked since 1977
Census
Merrisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 204 people with the first name Merrisa, which placed it at #37,948 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
#37,948
National first-name rank
People counted
204
204 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merrisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merrisa is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.0%) and Black (9.8%). 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 Merrisa 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 Merrisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.3% · 121
- Hispanic or Latino24.0% · 49
- Black or African American9.8% · 20
- Two or more races4.4% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 5
Popularity
Merrisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merrisa from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 82 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merrisa 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 Merrisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merrisa
The name Merrisa has its roots in the ancient Greek language, where it is believed to have derived from the word "merissa," which means "honeybee" or "sweet one." This name gained popularity during the Hellenistic period, which spanned from the 4th to the 1st century BC, and was particularly prevalent in regions influenced by Greek culture, such as parts of modern-day Greece, Turkey, and Egypt.
The earliest recorded mention of the name Merrisa can be found in a collection of ancient Greek poetry from the 3rd century BC, where it was used to describe a beautiful and graceful woman. This poetic reference suggests that the name was already in use during that time and likely held positive connotations.
Throughout the centuries, the name Merrisa has appeared in various historical records and texts, although its popularity has ebbed and flowed across different regions and time periods. One notable example is Merrisa of Alexandria, a renowned philosopher and scholar who lived in the 2nd century AD and made significant contributions to the field of mathematics.
During the Byzantine era, which lasted from the 4th to the 15th century AD, the name Merrisa gained traction among Greek Orthodox Christian communities. It is believed that some early Christian saints and martyrs bore this name, further solidifying its association with virtue and piety.
Merrisa also found its way into the annals of European history, particularly during the Middle Ages. One noteworthy figure was Merrisa of Montpellier, a 13th-century French noblewoman and patron of the arts, who played a significant role in the cultural renaissance of her time.
In more recent centuries, the name Merrisa has continued to be used, albeit less frequently than in its heyday. Some notable individuals bearing this name include Merrisa Browne, a 17th-century English poet and playwright, and Merrisa Davenport, an 18th-century American revolutionary who fought alongside her husband during the American Revolutionary War.
While the name Merrisa has retained its Greek origins and connotations of sweetness and grace, it has also taken on new meanings and associations as it has traveled across different cultures and time periods. Regardless of its varying interpretations, the name continues to carry a sense of beauty, strength, and resilience that has endured throughout history.
People
Merrisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merrisa 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
Merrisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merrisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merrisa 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Merrisa a common name?
We classify Merrisa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merrisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Merrisa was 1994, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merrisa 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 Merrisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 204 people with the name Merrisa, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,948 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 Merrisa 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 Merrisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merrisa appears almost entirely female. Of the 198 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Merrisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merrisa is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.0%) and Black (9.8%). 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 Merrisa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merrisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.3% (121 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 Merrisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merrisa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merrisa 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 Merrisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merrisa 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 Merrisa 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 share the name Merrisa?
You can see how many people have the name Merrisa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.