Jessilyn
Blend of feminine names Jessie and Lynn meaning "prosperous meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 663 living Americans carry the first name Jessilyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jessilyn today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jessilyn births was 1991 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jessilyn. 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
663
~ 1 in 516,975 Americans
Peak year
1991
26 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,713
Tracked since 1968
Census
Jessilyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 611 people with the first name Jessilyn, which placed it at #17,841 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
#17,841
National first-name rank
People counted
611
611 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jessilyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessilyn is White at 59.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.0%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Jessilyn 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 Jessilyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.2% · 362
- Hispanic or Latino18.0% · 110
- Black or African American8.8% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.7% · 41
- Two or more races5.6% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 10
Popularity
Jessilyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jessilyn from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 192 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
Jessilyn 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 Jessilyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jessilyns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jessilyn
The name Jessilyn is a relatively modern combination of the names Jessica and Lyn. It does not have a direct linguistic origin from a specific language or culture.
Jessica is a name derived from the Hebrew name Yehoshua, meaning "Yahweh is salvation." It is a medieval English form of the biblical name Joshua, which was borne by the leader of the Israelites who led them into the Promised Land. The name Jessica first appeared in the late 16th century, brought into use by Shakespeare in his play "The Merchant of Venice."
Lyn is a shortened form of the name Lynn, which is derived from the Old English word "linden," meaning a linden tree. It was originally a surname before becoming a given name in its own right.
The combination of Jessica and Lyn to form Jessilyn is a modern invention, likely emerging in the late 20th century as a unique and creative variation of the more traditional Jessica.
There are no known historical figures of note who bore the name Jessilyn prior to the late 20th century. However, some notable individuals who have carried the name include:
1. Jessilyn Aalbers (born 1985), a Dutch model and actress.
2. Jessilyn Dutra (born 1989), an American singer and songwriter.
3. Jessilyn Polston (born 1990), an American actress known for her role in the TV series "The Walking Dead."
4. Jessilyn Siwa (born 1998), an American actress and dancer, best known as the younger sister of famous YouTuber JoJo Siwa.
5. Jessilyn Rondero (born 2002), a Filipino child actress and model.
While the name Jessilyn is a relatively recent creation, its components Jessica and Lyn have rich histories that contribute to the name's overall meaning and appeal.
People
Jessilyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jessilyn 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
Jessilyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jessilyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 663 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jessilyn 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 516,975 US residents.
Is Jessilyn a common name?
We classify Jessilyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 682 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jessilyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Jessilyn was 1991, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jessilyn is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jessilyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 611 people with the name Jessilyn, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,841 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 Jessilyn 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 Jessilyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jessilyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 616 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Jessilyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessilyn is White at 59.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.0%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Jessilyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jessilyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.2% (362 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 Jessilyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jessilyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jessilyn 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 Jessilyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jessilyn 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 Jessilyn 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 have the name Jessilyn?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Jessilyn at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.