Jesica
A feminine English name derived from a Hebrew name meaning "rich".
Name Census estimates that about 4,488 living Americans carry the first name Jesica. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jesica today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jesica births was 1987 (238 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jesica. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jesica with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.5K
~ 1 in 76,371 Americans
Peak year
1987
238 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2022 SSA rank
#8,244
Tracked since 1966
Census
Jesica in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,742 people with the first name Jesica, which placed it at #3,579 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
#3,579
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,742 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
53.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jesica
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jesica is Hispanic at 53.1%. The next largest groups are White (38.2%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Jesica 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 Jesica at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino53.1% · 3,049
- White38.2% · 2,195
- Black or African American3.1% · 179
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 154
- Two or more races2.3% · 131
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 34
Popularity
Jesica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jesica from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,879 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jesica 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 Jesica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jesicas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jesica, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 89 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jesica
The name Jesica has its origins in the Hebrew language and is a feminine form of the male name Jesse or Yishai. Jesse was an important figure in the Hebrew Bible, as he was the father of the famous King David. The name Jesse means "gift" or "present" in Hebrew.
In the Bible, Jesse is first mentioned in the Book of Ruth as the son of Obed and the grandson of Boaz and Ruth. He lived in Bethlehem and was described as a respected and wealthy man. The name Jesica is believed to have emerged as a variant of Jesse, likely influenced by the Spanish and Italian languages.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jesica can be found in the 13th century, when a woman named Jesica de Pisa was mentioned in Italian historical records from the city of Pisa. She was a noblewoman who lived during the medieval period.
In the 16th century, a famous Spanish writer and poet named Jesica Gonzalez de Mendoza was born in Valladolid, Spain, around the year 1519. She was known for her poetry and writings on religious themes.
During the 17th century, a woman named Jesica Duarte was a prominent figure in the history of Brazil. She was born in 1619 and was one of the leaders of a group of women who fought against the Dutch colonizers in the region of Pernambuco.
In the 18th century, Jesica Haworth was a notable English author and playwright. She was born in 1745 and wrote several plays and novels that were popular during her time.
Another notable figure with the name Jesica was Jesica Rankin, an American abolitionist and women's rights activist who lived in the 19th century. She was born in 1808 and was a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement and the fight for women's suffrage.
People
Jesica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jesica 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
Jesica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jesica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,488 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jesica 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 76,371 US residents.
Is Jesica a common name?
We classify Jesica as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,715 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jesica most popular?
The single biggest year for Jesica was 1987, when 238 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jesica is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jesica in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,742 people with the name Jesica, or 1.90 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,579 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 Jesica 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 Jesica?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jesica appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,732 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Jesica?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jesica is Hispanic at 53.1%. The next largest groups are White (38.2%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Jesica most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jesica in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.1% (3,049 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 Jesica in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jesica a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jesica 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 Jesica still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jesica 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 Jesica 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 common is the name Jesica?
See how many people share the name Jesica on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.