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Summary
- No one named Carissa appears in the Bible.
- Behind the Name treats Carissa as a spelling of Charissa, formed from the Greek charis, “grace”; Karissa is another spelling of the same name.
- The common claim that Carissa is Latin for “dearest” is not supported by Behind the Name; Clarissa and Cara are separate names.
- Charis is the New Testament’s word for grace, as in Ephesians 2:8 and John 1:14.
- Edmund Spenser named Charissa, the figure of charity, in The Faerie Queene (1590), alongside Fidelia and Speranza, faith and hope (1 Corinthians 13:13).
- Carissa entered the US top 1,000 for girls in 1970 and peaked at 240th in 1992.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Behind the Name, “Carissa,” “Charissa,” “Karissa,” “Charis” (citing the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names), “Cara,” “Clarissa,” “Clarice” and “Clara,” with United States popularity figures from Social Security Administration data. https://www.behindthename.com/name/carissa
- Strong’s Greek 5485, charis, with its New Testament occurrences, Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/greek/5485.htm
- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book 1, canto 10, Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto. https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/content/faerie-queene-book-1-canto-10
- LitCharts, “The Faerie Queene Book I: Canto X Summary & Analysis.” https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-faerie-queene/book-i-canto-x
- “Carissa,” Wikipedia, on the plant genus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carissa
- Scripture quotations: Ephesians 2:8 and John 1:14, English Standard Version; 1 Corinthians 13:13, King James Version.
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