View Message

Maritza is used as a given name in South Africa as the female form of the surname Maritz.

This is way over-simplified. Marissa seems to have been independently created in the USA in the 19th century by blending Mary and Melissa. Maritsa and Maritza are respellings in Spanish speaking countries of the Slavic and Hungarian name Marica. In those languages the letter "c" is pronounced like "ts" is in English. Maritza would be more often found in Latin America than in Spain because in most dialects of Latin American Spanish, "Z" is pronounced like "S".

Marisa is the traditional Italian form. Its usage has spread to German-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries, but its origin and main use is not German.