Jessiah
Masculine
Jessiah is given to both — 2,285 boys and 349 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Jessiah joins Jesse to the -iah ending, and Jesse is the father of David — a Hebrew name whose meaning has never been recovered.
How old is the name Jessiah?
Jessiah first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Jessiah is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,300 people named Jessiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jessiah most popular?
Jessiah peaked in 2020, reaching #1271 nationally. Today it ranks #1808, 537 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yishai to Jessiah
The story of Jessiah
Jesse is David's father, and the Tree of Jesse — the genealogy of Christ as a tree growing from his body — is one of the standard subjects of medieval stained glass. Puritan families took the name up. Jessiah is a modern American formation appearing in the registers in the 2000s and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Through Jesse, from the Hebrew Yishai, of genuinely unrecovered origin — 'gift' and 'my husband' have both been proposed and neither is established. The -iah ending descends from Yah, the divine name, but functions here as a sound. Only its origin is settled.
How the name formed
- Yishai
- Jesse
- Jessiah
Related forms: Jesse · Yishai · Jesiah
Pronouncing Jessiah
juh-SY-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Jessiah and Jesiah are said identically.
Nicknames for Jessiah
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
- 1978
- Most boys named
- 2020144 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1271reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −14.6%88 in 2025, from 103
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.
Jessiah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jesse in English — related form
- Yishai in Hebrew — related form
- Jesiah in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Jessiahs among us
people named Jessiah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 19,410 born in 2025 was named Jessiah
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 Travion test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jessiah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Travion climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Travion's path sketches the road Jessiah is walking now.
Jessiah 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 Jessiah is headed
Jessiah 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.
Jessiah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jessiah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Jesse behind it is the father of David and the root of a great medieval image.
- Jesse and Siah are two short forms, both with real use.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries well.
- Jesse's own meaning is genuinely unrecovered.
- The compound is modern rather than biblical.
- Josiah and Isaiah are close enough to cause confusion.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Jessiah
Masculine · #1808 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jessiahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Jessiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jessiah in 2025?
- Jessiah ranks #1808 among US boy names in 2025, with 88 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jessiah?
- About 1 in every 19,410 US boys born in 2025 was named Jessiah — 88 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jessiah with classmates?
- Jessiah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jessiah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Gentry#1808 · Avrohom#1808 · Alakai#1808 · Callaway#1808 · Arsiah#1808 · Honor#1808 · Tyree#1808 · Tamir#1808
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jessiah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jessiah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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