Jessicia
Of Hebrew origin, meaning "wealthy" or "God beholds".
Name Census estimates that about 328 living Americans carry the first name Jessicia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jessicia today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jessicia births was 1987 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jessicia. 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
328
~ 1 in 1,044,983 Americans
Peak year
1987
29 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
1999 SSA rank
#15,465
Tracked since 1972
Census
Jessicia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 222 people with the first name Jessicia, which placed it at #35,960 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
#35,960
National first-name rank
People counted
222
222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jessicia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessicia is White at 61.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.6%) and Black (16.2%). 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 Jessicia 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 Jessicia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.3% · 136
- Hispanic or Latino17.6% · 39
- Black or African American16.2% · 36
- Two or more races4.1% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Jessicia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jessicia from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 206 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Jessicia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jessicia 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 Jessicia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jessicias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jessicia
The name Jessicia is a variant of the Hebrew name Yiskah, which means "to behold" or "to see." It is believed to have originated in the biblical era, around the 6th century BCE. The name first appeared in the Old Testament, where it was mentioned as the name of a woman who was the daughter of Amos.
In its earliest forms, the name was spelled as Yiskah or Yishkah. Over time, as the name spread across different cultures and languages, it underwent various transformations and phonetic shifts, leading to the emergence of different spellings and pronunciations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jessicia can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BCE. In his work, "The Histories," he mentioned a Persian woman named Jessicia, who was renowned for her beauty and wisdom.
During the Middle Ages, the name Jessicia gained popularity among certain Christian communities, particularly in parts of Europe. It was often associated with the concept of divine vision or spiritual enlightenment.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Jessicia of Flanders, a Flemish noblewoman and mystic, gained recognition for her devotion to religious teachings and her supposed ability to interpret divine visions.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Jessicia de Camondo, a wealthy Italian-French philanthropist and art collector who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was renowned for her extensive collection of art and her support for various cultural institutions.
In the realm of literature, the name Jessicia appeared in the works of the English poet John Donne, who wrote a series of sonnets dedicated to a woman named Jessicia in the early 17th century.
Throughout history, several other notable figures have borne the name Jessicia, including Jessicia Tandy, an English actress who lived from 1909 to 1994 and won an Academy Award for her performance in the film "Driving Miss Daisy."
While the name Jessicia has undergone various transformations and has been influenced by different cultural and linguistic traditions, it has maintained a connection to its Hebrew roots and the concept of vision or enlightenment.
People
Jessicia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jessicia 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
Jessicia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jessicia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 328 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jessicia 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 1,044,983 US residents.
Is Jessicia a common name?
We classify Jessicia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 348 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jessicia most popular?
The single biggest year for Jessicia was 1987, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jessicia is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jessicia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 222 people with the name Jessicia, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,960 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 Jessicia 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 Jessicia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jessicia appears almost entirely female. Of the 220 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 Jessicia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessicia is White at 61.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.6%) and Black (16.2%). 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 Jessicia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jessicia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.3% (136 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 Jessicia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jessicia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jessicia 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 Jessicia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jessicia 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 Jessicia 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 Jessicia?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Jessicia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.