Marisa

My family (plus a few internet searches) told me that the name Marisa is derived from the Latin “Maris Stella, ” which means “Star of the Sea.” That is special to me because when my great-grandmother left Italy and immigrated to the United States, she settled in Cape May, New Jersey, where the local Catholic Church is named to honor Mary, the mother of Jesus, with the title of “Our Lady, Star of the Sea.” My name is spelled with just one “s” as “Marisa” but is often mispronounced as “ma-RISS-a.” I tell people that it’s actually pronounced “ma-REE-sa, rhymes with Mother Teresa, but I’m probably not half so holy!” :-)

According to all my Sicilian and Italian family, Marisa [my sister's name] is a contraction of Maria-Lisabetta or Mary Elizabeth, hence the meaning would be the meanings for Mary and Elizabeth.

Marisa means "of the sea."

In Spain, Marisa is the nickname of women who have the names Maria Isabel. The pronunciation is Marisabel and then shortened to Marisa.

Marisa is the contraction of or nickname for Maria Isabel. When speaking Spanish, one would say Marisabel, which shortened to Marisa. It was typically a nickname until about 50 years ago when it started to become popular as a given name.

Marisa (mah-REE-sah) is a contraction of "Maria" and "Teresa" (i.e. girls with the first name "Maria" and middle name "Teresa" were called "Marisa" for short). The name stemmed from this practice (in parts of Spain, at least).

At least in Spain, Marisa is a nickname for Maria Luisa and not a name on its own. [noted -ed]

Can also be an elaboration of Maris.