Jessey
Masculine · “Hebrew Yishai”
Jessey is given to both — 929 boys and 287 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
The family tree started as a piece of church art. The Tree of Jesse shows a vine growing out of the sleeping figure of David's father, carrying Christ's ancestors on its branches, and it is the source of the branching diagram every genealogist now uses.
How old is the name Jessey?
Jessey first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Jessey alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 800 people named Jessey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jessey most popular?
Jessey peaked in 1994, reaching #1795 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 7,919 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yishai to Jessey
The story of Jessey
Isaiah 11:1 says that a shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and medieval artists took the image literally. From the eleventh century onward the Tree of Jesse appears in manuscripts, stained glass and stone: Jesse lies asleep at the bottom, a vine rises from his side, and the kings of Judah and the ancestors of Christ occupy the branches, with the Virgin and Christ at the top. The window at Chartres is the most famous. The device solved a problem, which was how to show descent visually, and it worked so well that the form was borrowed for secular genealogies from the fourteenth century. Every family tree drawn since, with its trunk, branches and generations rising up the page, descends from a piece of medieval biblical illustration.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew Yishai, of uncertain meaning
Jessey is a spelling of Jesse, Hebrew Yishai, the father of David. The meaning is not established; proposals include gift and a connection to a root meaning to exist. The name entered English use with the Reformation, when Old Testament names became fashionable among Protestants. The peak of this spelling is 1994.
How the name formed
- Yishai
- Jesse
- Jessey
Related forms: Jesse · Yishai · Isai
Pronouncing Jessey
JES-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Jessey and Jesse are homophones; the -ey spelling is an American variant.
Nicknames for Jessey
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
- 1920
- Most boys named
- 199448 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1795reached in 1994
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%7 in 2025, 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.
Jessey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jesse in English — spelling variant
- Yishai in Hebrew — same name
- Isai in Spanish — same name
Jesseys among us
people named Jessey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Jessey
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 Levert test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jessey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Levert climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Levert's path sketches the road Jessey is walking now.
Jessey 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
Jessey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jessey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Jess works as a short form and is widely used.
- The biblical figure is well known.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- Jesse is overwhelmingly the standard spelling.
- The -ey spelling reads as female to some Americans.
- The meaning of the Hebrew name is not settled.
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What they receive
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Jessey
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jesseys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Jessey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jessey in 2025?
- Jessey ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jessey?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Jessey — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jessey with classmates?
- Jessey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jessey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jessey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jessey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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