Hessie
Feminine
Hessie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,118 girls against 16 boys since 1880.
Purim is named after a thrown lot. The festival that celebrates the story behind Esther takes its name from pur, a foreign word the text has to stop and translate for its own readers, because the date of the intended massacre was picked by casting dice.
How old is the name Hessie?
Hessie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Hessie alive today was born around 1918, making them about 107 years old. About 100 people named Hessie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hessie most popular?
Hessie peaked in 1881, reaching #679 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hester to Hessie
The story of Hessie
The book is a comedy about administration. Everything in it turns on paperwork: a decree that cannot be revoked because of a rule about the king's seal, a second decree written to cancel the first without contradicting it, a list of the king's memorable deeds read aloud at night to cure insomnia, and a gallows built to a specification. The villain is undone by a clerical detail he himself insisted on. It is the only book in the Hebrew Bible with no direct mention of God, and the oldest surviving argument about it is whether that is a problem or the whole point.
Meaningnot established
Not established
A pet form whose full name cannot be established. It shortens Hester in some families and Harriet in others, and the American record holds it standing alone often enough that neither can be called the source. Whatever sits behind it, this spelling has been an independent name for a long time.
How the name formed
- Hester
- Hessie
Pronouncing Hessie
HES-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The doubled s guarantees the short vowel and keeps the first syllable closed, which is the one thing the spelling settles.
Nicknames for Hessie
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 191937 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #679reached in 1881
- Change vs 1957
- −14.3%6 in 1959, from 7
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.
Hessies among us
people named Hessie are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Hessie sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Short, warm and impossible to mispronounce.
- Essie sits inside it as a complete name of its own.
- The record carries it for boys as well as girls, so it signals nothing on a form.
- There is no settled full name to grow into or to put on a document.
- It belongs to the oldest layer of the American record and reads that way.
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Hessie
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Hessies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Hessie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hessie in 2025?
- Hessie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Hessie with classmates?
- Hessie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Helen#461 · Heather#1261 · Hannah#56 · Hazel#21 · Holly#416 · Hailey#104 · Haley#861 · Heidi#340
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hessie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hessie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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