Raisa or Raissa is a female personal name. It is popular in Russia and South Asia (as a feminine form of Rais). It was also a historically typical female name amongst Jews of the Russian Empire,Russian-Jewish Given Names Boris Feldblyum (1998), page 39 as a Hebrew and Yiddish origin variant. In Yiddish, Raisa is derived from the word "roiz", meaning “rose”.
Notable people named Raisa include: Raisa Akhmatova, internationally recognized Chechen poet Raisa Andriana, Indonesian singer Raisa Belskikh, Russian agronomist Raisa Blokh, Russian poet Raisa Bogatyrova, Ukrainian politician Raisa Sergiyevna Dankovskaya, Ukrainian and Russian ethnographer, museologist, folklorist and archivist Raisa Gorbacheva, wife of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and a fundraiser for preservation of Russian heritage Raissa Khan-Panni, English singer Raisa Khylko, Ukrainian ballet dancer Raisa Kyrychenko, Ukrainian mezzo-soprano singer and music teacher Raissa Maritain, Russian-French philosopher and poet Rayisa Nedashkivska, Ukrainian and Soviet-era theater and cinema actress Raisa Orlova, Soviet/Russian writer and Americanist Raisa Smekhnova, former Soviet/Belarusian long-distance runner Raisa Smetanina, former Soviet/Russian Nordic skiing champion Raisa Surnachevskaya, Soviet World War II fighter pilot Raisa Treñas, Filipino businesswoman and politician
Fictional Raisa Pöttgen, a character from the second season of the anime Strike Witches
See also Francia Raisa, American actress Miss Raisa, rapper Rosa Raisa, soprano
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