Bright, clear, or famous
Clarissa is a Latinate elaboration of the name Clara. It gained significant literary prominence in the 18th century and has since been associated with intelligence and refinement.
Less common today
Clarissa isn't in the latest US Top 1000. It last peaked at #237 in 1994.
US births per 5-year period, 1990–present (SSA data).
The virtuous protagonist of Samuel Richardson's 1748 tragic novel · Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady
The titular high-society protagonist of Virginia Woolf's modernist masterpiece · Mrs. Dalloway
The clever, fourth-wall-breaking teenager in the 1990s sitcom · Clarissa Explains It All
Better known as Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross
English celebrity chef and television personality
Award-winning American television journalist and foreign correspondent
