Jessa
Feminine
Jessa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 6,462 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Jessa is a short form of Jessica, and Jessica appears to have been invented by Shakespeare for The Merchant of Venice.
How old is the name Jessa?
Jessa first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Jessa alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 6,400 people named Jessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jessa most popular?
Jessa peaked in 2015, reaching #544 nationally. Today it ranks #2214, 1,670 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Iscah to Jessa
The story of Jessa
Jessica is not recorded before The Merchant of Venice, and Shakespeare probably built it from Iscah in Genesis, which some English bibles rendered Jesca. Jessa is a modern short form and appears in American records in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Through Jessica, which Shakespeare seems to have coined, probably from the biblical Iscah, a niece of Abraham, whose Hebrew name is read as 'to behold' or 'foresight'. The derivation is likely but not certain, and Jessa is a modern shortening.
How the name formed
- Iscah
- Jessica
- Jessa
Related forms: Jessica · Jesa
Pronouncing Jessa
JESS-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Jessa
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
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 2015572 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #544reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −13.5%83 in 2025, from 96
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.
Jessa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jessica in English — related form
- Jesa in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Jessas among us
people named Jessa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 19,365 born in 2025 was named Jessa
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 Mickey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jessa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mickey climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mickey's path sketches the road Jessa is walking now.
Jessa 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 Jessa is headed
Jessa is easing off slowly — about 30% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Jessa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jessa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That Shakespeare appears to have coined the parent name is a first-rate fact.
- Jessica is available as a full formal version.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The derivation from Iscah is likely but not certain.
- It reads as a diminutive rather than a full name.
- Jessa and Jenna are close enough to confuse.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Jessa
Feminine · #2214 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jessas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,400 people named Jessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jessa in 2025?
- Jessa ranks #2214 among US girl names in 2025, with 83 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jessa?
- About 1 in every 19,365 US girls born in 2025 was named Jessa — 83 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jessa with classmates?
- Jessa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jessa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hania#2214 · Perry#2214 · Bea#2214 · Lyana#2214 · Mahira#2214 · Lanie#2214 · Alorah#2214 · Nava#2214
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jessa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jessa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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