Jeselle
A feminine variant of the Spanish name Jesusa, meaning "deliverer".
Name Census estimates that about 210 living Americans carry the first name Jeselle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jeselle today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeselle births was 2012 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeselle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
210
~ 1 in 1,632,164 Americans
Peak year
2012
15 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,237
Tracked since 1997
Census
Jeselle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Jeselle, which placed it at #34,648 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
61.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeselle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeselle is Hispanic at 61.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.7%) and White (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jeselle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jeselle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino61.3% · 144
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.7% · 44
- White9.8% · 23
- Black or African American6.8% · 16
- Two or more races2.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Popularity
Jeselle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeselle from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 96 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeselle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Jeselle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeselles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeselle
The given name Jeselle is a relatively modern name, with its origins likely tracing back to a combination of the names Jessica and Ellie or Ellen. While the name Jessica has Hebrew roots, with its meaning linked to "wealthy" or "foresight," the latter part of Jeselle draws from traditional English names like Ellen, meaning "bright one" or "shining light."
This unique blend of names seems to have emerged in the late 20th century, possibly as a way to create a distinctive and melodic feminine name. The earliest recorded instances of the name Jeselle appear to be from the 1980s and 1990s, though its usage remained relatively rare during this period.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Jeselle was Jeselle Hicks, a Canadian actress born in 1987. She appeared in various television shows and films throughout the 2000s and 2010s, including roles in "Supernatural" and "The Killing."
Another early bearer of the name was Jeselle Karic, a Brazilian model and actress born in 1991. She gained recognition for her work in Brazilian television shows and music videos in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
In the realm of literature, Jeselle Blackwood is an American author and poet who published her first collection of poems, "Fragments of Love," in 2012. Her works often explore themes of love, loss, and self-discovery.
Moving to the field of sports, Jeselle Montes is a Filipino-American mixed martial artist born in 1994. She has competed in various MMA promotions, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), since 2017.
Lastly, Jeselle Nunez is a Trinidadian singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the late 2010s with her unique blend of soca and pop music. Her debut album, "Rhythm and Soul," was released in 2019 and received critical acclaim.
While the name Jeselle may not have a long historical lineage, its unique sound and the combination of its origins have contributed to its growing popularity in recent decades, particularly among parents seeking a distinctive and meaningful name for their daughters.
People
Jeselle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeselle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jeselle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeselle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeselle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,632,164 US residents.
Is Jeselle a common name?
We classify Jeselle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 213 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeselle most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeselle was 2012, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeselle is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeselle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Jeselle, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jeselle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jeselle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeselle appears almost entirely female. Of the 227 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jeselle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeselle is Hispanic at 61.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.7%) and White (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jeselle most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jeselle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.3% (144 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jeselle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeselle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeselle in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Jeselle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeselle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jeselle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Jeselle?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.