Jessi
Feminine
Jessi is given to both — 6,553 girls and 1,321 boys since 1880. See Jessi as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Jessi comes off Jessica, and Jessica was invented for a play. Shakespeare needed a Jewish name for a character in the Merchant of Venice and appears to have made one from a name in Genesis, spelled as he heard it.
How old is the name Jessi?
Jessi first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Jessi alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 6,400 people named Jessi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jessi most popular?
Jessi peaked in 1981, reaching #646 nationally. Today it ranks #3100, 2,454 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Iscah to Jessi
The story of Jessi
The Merchant of Venice was written around 1596 and Jessica is Shylock's daughter; before the play the name is essentially unattested in English, which is why the coinage is credited to Shakespeare. It stayed uncommon for three centuries and then became one of the most-given girls' names in the English-speaking world in the nineteen-eighties. Jessi and Jessie are its short forms, and Jessie has an older independent record in Scotland as a form of Janet.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Jessica appears first in Shakespeare, and the usual account derives it from Iscah, a niece of Abraham named once in Genesis, which sixteenth-century English bibles rendered Jesca. Iscah's own meaning is not established — a connection to a root about looking or foreseeing has been proposed. So the name is probably a poet's respelling of a name whose meaning nobody knows.
How the name formed
- Iscah
- Jesca
- Jessica
- Jessi
Related forms: Jessie · Yiskah · Jessica
Pronouncing Jessi
JESS-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said exactly as Jessie; the -i ending changes the look and nothing you can hear.
Nicknames for Jessi
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
- 1959
- Most girls named
- 1981273 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #646reached in 1981
- Change vs 2024
- +6.1%52 in 2025, from 49
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.
Jessi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jessie in English — spelling variant
- Yiskah in Hebrew — related form
- Jessica in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, North Carolina.
Jessis among us
people named Jessi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 30,909 born in 2025 was named Jessi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Jessi
- #3100
- Jessi on the 2025 chart
- #878
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jessi went to 52 girls in 2025, but Jessy is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 82, which makes it the 878th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,222 places above the chart.
- Jessi52
- Jessy30
About 1 girl in 19,601 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 30,909 for Jessi itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Doloris test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jessi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Doloris climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Doloris's path sketches the road Jessi is walking now.
Jessi 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 Jessi is headed
Jessi should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Jessi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jessi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Jessica stands behind it as a full formal name whenever one is wanted.
- Jess is a ready shorter form used for both sexes.
- Five letters, nothing silent, and easy for a small child to write.
- Jessie is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected in writing.
- It is a diminutive by construction and reads as informal on official documents.
- It carries a very strong sense of one American decade, which is audible to anyone who was there.
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What they receive
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Jessi
Feminine · #3100 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jessis 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 Jessi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Jessi?
- Jessi is the most-used spelling in US records — 52 of the 82 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Jessy.
- How popular is the name Jessi in 2025?
- Jessi ranks #3100 among US girl names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jessi?
- About 1 in every 30,909 US girls born in 2025 was named Jessi — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jessi with classmates?
- Jessi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jessi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yatziri#3100 · Clarice#3100 · Alanie#3100 · Ellora#3100 · Grayson#3100 · Lainie#3100 · Brady#3100 · Addalynn#3100
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jessi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jessi and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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