Edessa
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly from a placename in Ancient Mesopotamia.
Name Census estimates that about 58 living Americans carry the first name Edessa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Edessa today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Edessa births was 1917 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Edessa. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Edessa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
58
~ 1 in 5,909,558 Americans
Peak year
1917
8 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,908
Tracked since 1917
Popularity
Edessa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Edessa from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 25 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Edessa 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 Edessa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Edessa
The name Edessa has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the word "Edessa," which was the name of an important city located in northern Mesopotamia, now modern-day Turkey. The city was founded around 600 BC and was an integral part of the Seleucid Empire.
Edessa is mentioned in several historical texts, including the writings of the Roman historian Pliny the Elder and the Greek geographer Strabo. It was also an important center of early Christianity and is referenced in the Bible's New Testament as the place where King Abgar V corresponded with Jesus Christ.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Edessa was Edessa of Edessa, a Christian martyr who lived in the 4th century AD. She was executed for her religious beliefs during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Another notable figure was Edessa of Casoria, an Italian saint who lived in the 12th century. She was known for her piety and miracles, and a church was built in her honor in the town of Casoria near Naples.
In the 13th century, there was a Princess Edessa of Antioch, who was a member of the ruling Poitiers-Antioch dynasty. She played a role in the complex political intrigues of the Crusader states in the Holy Land.
During the Renaissance period, Edessa Musachi was an Albanian noblewoman who lived in the 15th century. She was a member of the powerful Musachi family and played a significant role in the resistance against the Ottoman Empire's conquest of Albania.
In more recent times, Edessa was the name of a 19th-century Russian ballerina, Edessa Giorgievna, who performed with the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg and was renowned for her technical precision and artistic expression.
While the name Edessa is not as common today as it once was, it has a rich historical legacy that spans centuries and cultures, from its ancient Greek origins to its connections with early Christianity, the Crusades, and the Renaissance.
People
Edessa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Edessa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Edessa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Edessa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Edessa 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 5,909,558 US residents.
Is Edessa a common name?
We classify Edessa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 67 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Edessa most popular?
The single biggest year for Edessa was 1917, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Edessa is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Edessa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Edessa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Edessa 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 Edessa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Edessa 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 Edessa 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Edessa as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Edessa, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.