Jessly
A combination of the names Jess and Lily.
Name Census estimates that about 111 living Americans carry the first name Jessly. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jessly today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jessly births was 2009 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jessly. 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
111
~ 1 in 3,087,877 Americans
Peak year
2009
10 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,197
Tracked since 2000
Popularity
Jessly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jessly from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jessly remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jessly 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 Jessly 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 Jessly
The given name Jessly appears to be a modern feminine variation of the classic biblical name Jesse. Its origins can be traced back to the Hebrew language and the Old Testament, where Jesse was the father of the famous King David. The name Jesse derived from the Hebrew word "Ishai," meaning "gift" or "wealthy."
In the Old Testament Book of Samuel, Jesse was a resident of Bethlehem and a prominent figure in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. He was the son of Obed and the grandson of the loyal widow Ruth from the Book of Ruth. As a humble shepherd, Jesse was chosen by the prophet Samuel to present his sons for anointment as the future king of Israel. Although his seven eldest sons were initially considered, it was the youngest, David, who was ultimately anointed and went on to become one of the most renowned kings in the Bible.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Jesse dates back to the biblical era, appearing in the Old Testament's Books of Samuel, Chronicles, and Ruth. Throughout history, the name has been adopted and adapted across various cultures and languages, resulting in various spellings and variations, such as Jessly.
One notable figure associated with the name Jesse was Jesse Ben-Joseph, a Jewish sage and scholar who lived in the 4th century CE. He was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Babylon and was renowned for his contributions to the study of the Talmud.
Another historical figure with the name Jesse was Jesse Chisholm, an American pioneer and trader who lived from 1805 to 1868. He is best known for establishing the famous Chisholm Trail, a cattle trail that stretched from Texas to Kansas and played a crucial role in the development of the American West.
In the realm of literature, Jesse was the name of a character in John Steinbeck's iconic novel "The Grapes of Wrath," published in 1939. The character, Jesse Renfield, was a former preacher who joined the Joad family on their journey from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression.
Additionally, Jesse Owens, an African American track and field athlete who lived from 1913 to 1980, made a significant impact on sports history. He is remembered for his remarkable achievements at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he won four gold medals, defying the racial ideologies of Nazi Germany at the time.
Finally, Jesse Jackson, born in 1941, is a prominent American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He has been a influential figure in the fight for racial equality and social justice in the United States, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.
People
Jessly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jessly 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
Jessly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jessly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jessly 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 3,087,877 US residents.
Is Jessly a common name?
We classify Jessly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 112 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jessly most popular?
The single biggest year for Jessly was 2009, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jessly is about 13 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 Jessly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jessly a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jessly 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 Jessly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jessly 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 Jessly 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 are called Jessly?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.