MEANING & HISTORY
What does Clarissa Gay mean?
Clarissa Gay combines the names Clarissa and Gay. Clarissa is a form in the Clara family, transmitted through medieval Latin and Italian. Clara is based on Latin clarus, bright or clear.
Samuel Richardson’s novel Clarissa helped establish the spelling in English literature. The extended ending belongs to personal-name formation, not another ancient virtue. Clarissa and Clarisse preserve related developments of the same family.
Gay became a given name from the English word in its happy or cheerful sense. That older vocabulary meaning explains this word-name formation. The word later acquired other social meanings, which do not determine the intention behind an individual’s name.
Gay can also be distinguished from names that resemble it only in sound or use it as a family nickname.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Synthetic voice reading
Parts of this name
Similar names to Clarissa Gay
Explore names with a similar opening or ending.
- Clarissa♀Clara-family form; bright or clear
- Clarence♂From the ducal title associated with Clare
- Claudius♂Roman family name, possibly associated with Latin claudus
- Claudine♀French feminine form of Claude
- Clemencia♀Mercy or gentleness
- Clifford♂Ford by a cliff or steep bank
- Clodualdo♂Linked to Clodoaldo; Machado proposes fame and old elements
- Clotilde♀Fame and battle
Explore Clarissa Gay further
Records & sources
Recorded use
- OpenHalalan / COMELEC · 2001
- 1 elected-candidate record · ODbL 1.0
These records document use of the spelling; they are separate from birth statistics.