Jessiah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of Jehovah".
Name Census estimates that about 2,514 living Americans carry the first name Jessiah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Jessiah today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jessiah births was 2020 (164 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jessiah. 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 Jessiah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jessiah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 136,338 Americans
Peak year
2020
164 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,641
Tracked since 1978
Census
Jessiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,478 people with the first name Jessiah, which placed it at #9,400 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
#9,400
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,478 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
41.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jessiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessiah is Black at 41.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.0%) and White (16.1%). 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 Jessiah 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 Jessiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American41.3% · 610
- Hispanic or Latino31.0% · 458
- White16.1% · 238
- Two or more races8.6% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Jessiah
Jessiah leans heavily male at 86.5% of total registrations, but 342 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jessiah as a male name
- Ranked #1,641 in 2024
- 103 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (144 births)
Jessiah as a female name
- Ranked #9,830 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jessiah leans strongly male. 1,220 people counted with this name were male (82.5%), compared with 258 female bearers (17.5%).
Popularity
Jessiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jessiah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,171 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jessiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jessiah 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 Jessiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jessiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Jessiah, while Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jessiah
The name Jessiah is believed to have originated from the Hebrew name Yishai, which means "gift of God" or "God exists." This name can be traced back to the Old Testament, where it was the name of King David's father. The earliest known spelling of the name was Yishai, which later evolved into various forms, including Yeshai, Jesse, and ultimately, Jessiah.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Jessiah can be found in the Bible's Book of Samuel, where it refers to the father of King David. Although the name Jessiah is not directly mentioned in the text, it is derived from the same root as Yishai, indicating a strong biblical connection.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jessiah. One of the earliest recorded instances is Jessiah Donaldson (1604-1685), an English Puritan minister who served as a pastor in various congregations in New England during the 17th century.
Another prominent figure was Jessiah Weston (1672-1746), a British merchant and philanthropist who made significant contributions to the establishment of charitable institutions in London. His legacy includes the founding of the Weston's Charity School, which provided education to underprivileged children.
In the 19th century, Jessiah Wilkinson (1801-1878) was a notable English architect who designed several churches and public buildings in the Gothic Revival style. His most famous work is the St. John's Church in Leeds, which is considered a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture.
Moving into the 20th century, Jessiah Nathaniel Coburn (1901-1985) was an American artist and sculptor known for his work in the Art Deco and Modernist styles. His sculptures and public art installations can be found in various cities across the United States.
Lastly, Jessiah Benson (1924-2002) was a prominent Australian Aboriginal activist and leader who played a pivotal role in the fight for indigenous rights and land rights in Australia. He was awarded the Order of Australia for his contributions to the Aboriginal community.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Jessiah throughout history, each leaving a lasting impact in their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of the name's legacy.
People
Jessiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jessiah 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
Jessiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jessiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,514 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jessiah 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 136,338 US residents.
Is Jessiah a common name?
We classify Jessiah as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,538 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jessiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Jessiah was 2020, when 164 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jessiah is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jessiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,478 people with the name Jessiah, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,400 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 Jessiah 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 Jessiah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jessiah leans strongly male. 1,220 people counted with this name were male (82.5%), compared with 258 female bearers (17.5%). 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 Jessiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jessiah is Black at 41.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.0%) and White (16.1%). 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 Jessiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jessiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.3% (610 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 Jessiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jessiah a male name?
Yes, 86.5% of people registered as Jessiah in the SSA data are male. 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 Jessiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jessiah 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 Jessiah 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 Jessiah?
See how many people share the name Jessiah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.