Yessica
Feminine · “probably from Iscah”
Yessica is Jessica written so that a Spanish speaker will say it correctly — Spanish j is an h sound, so Jessica read literally in Spanish comes out wrong. The name underneath was invented by Shakespeare, or very nearly, and that makes it one of the few common English names with a datable author. Yessica's American peak is 1995.
How old is the name Yessica?
Yessica first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Yessica alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 3,900 people named Yessica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yessica most popular?
Yessica peaked in 1995, reaching #1037 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 4,880 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Iscah to Yessica
The story of Yessica
Jessica was rare for three centuries after Shakespeare and then became one of the most popular girls' names in the English-speaking world: it was the most-used American girls' name of the 1980s and held a top-ten position for two decades. That popularity spread it into Spanish-speaking countries and communities, where the spelling had to change to survive: Spanish j is pronounced as a hard h, so Jessica read by Spanish rules gives hess-EE-ka. Writing it Yessica produces the intended sound, and the spelling became standard in Mexico, Central America and among Spanish-speaking families in the United States. The American record peaks in the mid-1990s.
Meaningscholars disagree
probably from Iscah, a name in Genesis
Jessica first appears as the name of Shylock's daughter in The Merchant of Venice, printed in 1600. Shakespeare almost certainly took it from Iscah, a woman named once in Genesis 11 and rendered Jesca in some sixteenth-century English Bibles. Iscah's own meaning is not established; proposals include 'she who looks out' and 'one who beholds', neither demonstrated. So the name has a known author, a probable source, and no reliable meaning.
How the name formed
- Iscah
- Jesca
- Jessica
- Yessica
Related forms: Jessica · Yesica · Jessica
Pronouncing Yessica
YEH-see-kah
Three syllables, stress on the first, with the y said as in yes — which is exactly why the spelling exists. English speakers reading it cold produce the same sound, so the respelling works in both languages, which is unusual.
Nicknames for Yessica
High
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
- 1973
- Most girls named
- 1995175 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1037reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%20 in 2025, from 20
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.
Yessica in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jessica in English — related form
- Yesica in Spanish — spelling variant
- Jessica in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Yessicas among us
people named Yessica are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Yessica
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 Madelaine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yessica's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Madelaine climbed just as high around 1942, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Madelaine's path sketches the road Yessica is walking now.
Yessica 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
Yessica beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Yessica in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling produces the correct sound in both Spanish and English, which few respellings manage.
- Yessi and Jess give it a short form in each language.
- The name has a datable author, which almost no other common name can claim.
- It will be corrected to Jessica by English speakers and by software.
- Yessica and Yesica are both used and hers will be written the other way.
- The source name's own meaning is not established.
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What they receive
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Yessica
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Yessicas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Yessica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yessica in 2025?
- Yessica ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Yessica?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Yessica — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Yessica with classmates?
- Yessica will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Yessica
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elda#5917 · Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yessica? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yessica and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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