Hessie
A diminutive form of Esther, a Persian name meaning "star".
Name Census estimates that about 90 living Americans carry the first name Hessie. It is a predominantly female name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Hessie today is around 84 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hessie births was 1920 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hessie. 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
- • The typical person named Hessie is about 84 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hessies were born before 1952.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hessie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
90
~ 1 in 3,808,382 Americans
Peak year
1920
49 babies that year
Average age
84
years old
1920 SSA rank
#4,593
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hessie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205 people with the first name Hessie, which placed it at #37,817 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
#37,817
National first-name rank
People counted
205
205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hessie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hessie is Black at 49.8%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Hessie 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 Hessie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.8% · 102
- White42.4% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 8
- Two or more races2.4% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Hessie
Hessie leans heavily female at 98.6% of total registrations, but 16 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hessie as a male name
- Ranked #4,593 in 1920
- 5 male births in 1920
- Peak: 1915 (6 births)
Hessie as a female name
- Ranked #5,822 in 1959
- 6 female births in 1959
- Peak: 1920 (44 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hessie leans strongly female. 184 people counted with this name were female (89.8%), compared with 21 male bearers (10.2%).
Popularity
Hessie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hessie from the 1880s through to the 1950s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 264 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hessie 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 Hessie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hessies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Hessie, while Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hessie
The name Hessie has its roots in the Germanic languages and is thought to have originated as a diminutive form of the name Hester, derived from the Greek name Esther. The name Esther itself is believed to have Persian origins, possibly stemming from the Persian word "star" or "planet Venus."
Historically, the name Hessie has been used predominantly in English-speaking countries and regions with strong Germanic cultural influences. Its earliest recorded usage can be traced back to the late Middle Ages, primarily in regions such as England and Scotland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hessie can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, England, dating back to the late 15th century. Here, a woman named Hessie Smythe was mentioned as a member of the local community.
In the 17th century, the name Hessie gained some prominence with the birth of Hessie Wilbraham (1600-1671), an English noblewoman from Cheshire. She was a member of the prominent Wilbraham family and married Sir Richard Wilbraham of Woodhey.
Another notable figure bearing the name Hessie was Hessie Smith (1788-1867), a Scottish poet and writer from Aberdeenshire. She is remembered for her collection of poems titled "The Lintie o' Moray," which celebrated the natural beauty of her native region.
In the 19th century, Hessie Hawkins (1820-1895) was a prominent American educator and advocate for women's rights. Born in New York, she co-founded the Poughkeepsie Female Seminary, one of the earliest institutions dedicated to providing higher education for women in the United States.
Moving into the 20th century, Hessie Granger (1905-1989) was a notable American artist and painter from North Carolina. Her works, which often depicted rural life and landscapes of the American South, are part of several museum collections, including the Mint Museum in Charlotte.
While the name Hessie has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in English-speaking regions with Germanic cultural influences, it has remained relatively uncommon compared to other names of similar origin.
People
Hessie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hessie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hessie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hessie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 90 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hessie 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 3,808,382 US residents.
Is Hessie a common name?
We classify Hessie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,134 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hessie most popular?
The single biggest year for Hessie was 1920, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hessie is about 84 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hessie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205 people with the name Hessie, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,817 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 Hessie 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 Hessie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hessie leans strongly female. 184 people counted with this name were female (89.8%), compared with 21 male bearers (10.2%). 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 Hessie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hessie is Black at 49.8%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Hessie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hessie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.8% (102 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 Hessie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hessie a female name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Hessie 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 Hessie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hessie 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 Hessie 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 Hessie as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Hessie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.