Essence
Feminine · “being”
Essence is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 10,744 girls against 17 boys since 1880.
Essence began as a philosopher's word: Latin writers built essentia from esse, "to be", to carry the Greek idea of what a thing truly is. Centuries later English borrowed it twice over — once for that abstract sense, once for the distilled drop of scent pressed from a flower. As a name it needs no spelling out and no correcting; it arrives already known.
How old is the name Essence?
Essence first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Essence alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 10,500 people named Essence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Essence most popular?
Essence peaked in 1998, reaching #456 nationally. Today it ranks #1163, 707 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Essence appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From esse to Essence
The story of Essence
The word was manufactured in Latin by writers reaching for a term to translate Greek philosophy, and it passed into English through French in the medieval period. For most of its life it stayed a word — used in theology, in chemistry, on the labels of small bottles — and not a name. Its move onto American birth certificates is recent, and it belongs to the broader twentieth-century American habit of naming from ordinary English vocabulary rather than from saints' calendars. The magazine Essence, founded in 1970 for Black women readers, put the word in front of a large American audience as a proper noun for the first time, and the name entered birth records in the years that followed.
Meaning
being; the intrinsic nature of a thing
The Latin essentia was formed from esse, "to be", as a rendering of the Greek ousia. English inherited both the philosophical sense and the later one of a concentrated extract or perfume.
How the name formed
- esse
- essentia
- essence
- Essence
Pronouncing Essence
ESS-ents
Stress on the first syllable, exactly as the English word. Some speakers land closer to ESS-ense; both are heard and neither needs correcting.
Nicknames for Essence
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1973
- Most girls named
- 1998565 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #456reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −12.7%199 in 2025, from 228
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Essence in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, Georgia.
Essences among us
people named Essence are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,077 born in 2025 was named Essence
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Alfreda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Essence's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alfreda climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alfreda's path sketches the road Essence is walking now.
Essence sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Essence is headed
Essence looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Essence beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Essence in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can already spell it — it is a standard English word, so no explaining it over the phone or on forms.
- One settled pronunciation that follows directly from the spelling.
- Established short forms: Essie, which is also a name in its own right, and the briefer Ess.
- A meaning that is plain and undisputed, traceable in a straight line from Latin.
- Present in American records across several decades without a sharp fashion spike.
- It stays a common noun as well as a name, so it turns up in perfume ads, cooking instructions and product labels. Most word names live with this; it is worth knowing it will happen.
- The name is unevenly spread across the country and clusters in the South. Outside those areas, some people will meet it as a name for the first time, and may pause before realizing it is one.
- She will most likely be the only Essence in her school — which some children love and some find tiring, and which nobody can predict in advance.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Essence to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Essence
Feminine · #1163 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Essences are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Essence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Essence in 2025?
- Essence ranks #1163 among US girl names in 2025, with 199 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Essence?
- About 1 in every 8,077 US girls born in 2025 was named Essence — 199 in all.
- Will my child share the name Essence with classmates?
- Essence will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Essence
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dalary#1163 · Raylee#1163 · Bria#1163 · Heavenly#1163 · Marlow#1163 · Winslow#1163 · Aminah#1160 · Ayat#1160
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Essence? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Essence and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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