Jesse
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift" or "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 340,514 living Americans carry the first name Jesse. It sits at #187 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.2% of registrations). The average person named Jesse today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jesse births was 1981 (10,824 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jesse. 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 Jesse with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jesse is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 12,419 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
341K
~ 1 in 1,007 Americans
Peak year
1981
10,824 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#187
Tracked since 1880
Census
Jesse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 293,712 people with the first name Jesse, which placed it at #175 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
#175
National first-name rank
People counted
294K
293,712 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
97.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jesse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jesse is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.6%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Jesse 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 Jesse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.4% · 186,253
- Hispanic or Latino22.6% · 66,380
- Black or African American7.3% · 21,415
- Two or more races3.7% · 10,778
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 5,820
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 3,066
Gender
Gender distribution for Jesse
Jesse leans heavily male at 97.2% of total registrations, but 12,419 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jesse as a male name
- Ranked #187 in 2024
- 1,980 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1981 (10,444 births)
Jesse as a female name
- Ranked #2,466 in 2024
- 73 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1981 (380 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jesse leans strongly male. 283,766 people counted with this name were male (96.6%), compared with 9,943 female bearers (3.4%).
Popularity
Jesse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jesse from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 89,027 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
Jesse 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 Jesse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 6,003 | 92 | 6,095 |
| 1890s | 5,396 | 126 | 5,522 |
| 1900s | 4,559 | 140 | 4,699 |
| 1910s | 16,293 | 314 | 16,607 |
| 1920s | 23,170 | 440 | 23,610 |
| 1930s | 18,929 | 264 | 19,193 |
| 1940s | 24,336 | 215 | 24,551 |
| 1950s | 26,654 | 266 | 26,920 |
| 1960s | 22,605 | 330 | 22,935 |
| 1970s | 44,892 | 1,133 | 46,025 |
| 1980s | 85,915 | 3,112 | 89,027 |
| 1990s | 73,790 | 3,235 | 77,025 |
| 2000s | 43,389 | 1,660 | 45,049 |
| 2010s | 24,893 | 762 | 25,655 |
| 2020s | 9,568 | 330 | 9,898 |
Geography
Where Jesses live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jesse, while Delaware, Vermont, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8,245 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jesse
The name Jesse originates from the Hebrew language and culture. It first appeared around the 11th century BCE as a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Yishāy or Yishai, meaning "gift" or "Yahweh exists". The name is derived from the Hebrew root word "yesh", meaning "to be" or "to exist".
Jesse is a prominent name in the Bible, notably as the father of the famous King David in the Old Testament. The Book of Ruth and the Books of Samuel mention Jesse as a resident of Bethlehem and a descendant of the tribe of Judah. This biblical figure is considered an important ancestor of Jesus Christ in the genealogical accounts found in the New Testament.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jesse dates back to the 9th century BCE, when it was found inscribed on a potsherd from the ancient city of Lachish in present-day Israel. This archaeological evidence suggests that the name was in use among the Israelites during this period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jesse. One of the most famous was Jesse James (1847-1882), the American outlaw and former Confederate guerrilla who led a gang of outlaws in the American Old West. Another was Jesse Owens (1913-1980), the renowned African American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Jesse Norman (1962-), a British philosopher and politician, served as a Minister for Industry and Energy in the UK government. Jesse Ventura (1951-) is an American politician, actor, and former professional wrestler who served as the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. Jesse L. Brown (1926-1950) was a pioneering African American naval aviator who served in the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War.
The name Jesse has been popular across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its biblical roots and historical significance. Its meaning of "gift" or "Yahweh exists" has contributed to its enduring appeal as a first name throughout the centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jesse
People
Jesse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jesse 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
Jesse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jesse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 340,514 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jesse 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 1,007 US residents.
Is Jesse a common name?
We classify Jesse as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 442,811 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jesse most popular?
The single biggest year for Jesse was 1981, when 10,824 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jesse is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jesse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 293,712 people with the name Jesse, or 97.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #175 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 Jesse 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 Jesse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jesse leans strongly male. 283,766 people counted with this name were male (96.6%), compared with 9,943 female bearers (3.4%). 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 Jesse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jesse is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.6%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Jesse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jesse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.4% (186,253 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 Jesse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jesse a male name?
Yes, 97.2% of people registered as Jesse in the SSA data are male. 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 Jesse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jesse 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 Jesse 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 Americans are named Jesse?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.