Jessi
A feminine diminutive form of the Hebrew name "Jesse", meaning "gift" or "wealthy".
Name Census estimates that about 7,521 living Americans carry the first name Jessi. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Jessi today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jessi births was 1981 (317 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jessi. 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 Jessi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.5K
~ 1 in 45,573 Americans
Peak year
1981
317 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2023 SSA rank
#3,294
Tracked since 1959
Census
Jessi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,229 people with the first name Jessi, which placed it at #2,811 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
#2,811
National first-name rank
People counted
8.2K
8,229 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jessi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessi is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Jessi 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 Jessi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 5,823
- Hispanic or Latino18.5% · 1,521
- Two or more races4.1% · 335
- Black or African American3.2% · 265
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 182
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 103
Gender
Gender distribution for Jessi
Jessi leans heavily female at 83.2% of total registrations, but 1,314 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jessi as a male name
- Ranked #13,081 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1994 (67 births)
Jessi as a female name
- Ranked #3,294 in 2024
- 48 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1981 (273 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jessi leans strongly female. 6,886 people counted with this name were female (83.7%), compared with 1,344 male bearers (16.3%).
Popularity
Jessi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jessi from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,399 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jessi 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 Jessi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jessis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jessi, while South Carolina, New Mexico, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 102 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jessi
The name Jessi is a variant of the Hebrew name Jesse, which has its roots in the Biblical figure Jesse, the father of King David. The name Jesse is derived from the Hebrew word "Ishai," which means "gift" or "present."
In the Old Testament, Jesse is mentioned as the son of Obed and the father of eight sons, including the famous King David. He is described as a respected man from the town of Bethlehem and a member of the tribe of Judah. The name Jesse gained popularity among Christians due to its association with the lineage of Jesus Christ, who was believed to be a descendant of King David.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jesse can be found in the biblical Book of Ruth, which is believed to have been written around the 6th century BCE. The name also appears in other books of the Old Testament, such as 1 Samuel and Isaiah.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Jesse or Jessi. One of the most famous was Jesse Owens, the American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, defying Adolf Hitler's notion of Aryan superiority. Another well-known figure was Jesse James, the notorious American outlaw and gang leader who was active in the mid-19th century.
In the world of literature, Jesse L. Hurlbut (1843-1930) was an American author and educator known for his children's books, including "Hurlbut's Story of the Bible." Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800) was an English mathematician and inventor who made significant contributions to the development of scientific instruments.
Jessi Colter (born Mirriam Johnson in 1943) is an American country music singer-songwriter and author, known for her collaborations with her husband, the legendary Waylon Jennings. She is also recognized for her own hits, such as "I'm Not Lisa" and "Borned to Love You."
People
Jessi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jessi 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
Jessi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jessi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,521 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jessi 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 45,573 US residents.
Is Jessi a common name?
We classify Jessi as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,811 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jessi most popular?
The single biggest year for Jessi was 1981, when 317 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jessi is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jessi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,229 people with the name Jessi, or 2.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,811 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 Jessi 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 Jessi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jessi leans strongly female. 6,886 people counted with this name were female (83.7%), compared with 1,344 male bearers (16.3%). 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 Jessi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessi is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Jessi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jessi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (5,823 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 Jessi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jessi a female name?
Yes, 83.2% of people registered as Jessi 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 Jessi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jessi 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 Jessi 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 called Jessi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.