Larissa () is a female given name of Greek origin that is common in Eastern European nations of Orthodox church heritage. It is derived either from Larissa, a nymph in Greek mythology who was a daughter of Pelasgus, or from the name of the ancient city of Larissa in Greece which meant "citadel" or "fortress" in a now extinct Pre-Greek substrate language..
The name is spelled Λάρισα in modern Greek and Лариса in Cyrillic, and based on either may also be Latinised as Larisa. It is used in Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, and Latvian languages. In 2009, Larisa was the 21st most common name for girls born in Romania.
A Russian short form is Lara, made famous through Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago (1957).
Notable people with the name include:
Saint Larissa (died c.375), early martyr
Larissa Behrendt (born 1969), Australian legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate
Larissa Burak (born 1968), Ukrainian-Australian bandurist and mezzo-soprano singer
Larissa Crummer (born 1996), Australian footballer
Larissa Eifler (born 1999), German fencer
Larissa Fiallo (born 1983), Miss Dominican Republic in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant Larissa França (born 1982), Brazilian beach volleyball player
Larissa Iapichino (born 2002), Italian female long jumper
Larissa Kalaus (born 1996), Croatian handball player
Larissa Kaur (born 1941), Estonian ballerina
Larissa Kelly (born 1980), American scholar and Jeopardy! winner
Larissa Lai (born 1967), Canadian writer, critic and professor
Larissa Manoela (born 2000), Brazilian actress and singer Larissa-Antonia Marolt (born 1992), Austrian fashion model
Larissa Meek (born 1978), American model and beauty queen
Larissa Mondrus (born 1943), German stage name of Soviet expatriate singer
Larissa Reissner (1895–1926), Russian writer and revolutionary Larissa Riquelme (born 1985), Paraguayan model and actress
Larissa Schuster (born 1960), American convicted murderer and former biochemist Larissa Tago Takeda, Japanese-Brazilian voice actress Larissa Tudor (died 1926), woman rumored to be Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia Larissa Volokhonsky (born 1945), Russian-born translator Larissa Werbicki (born 1996), Canadian rower
See also
References