Ressie
A feminine name of English origin, likely a diminutive form of the name Theresa.
Name Census estimates that about 227 living Americans carry the first name Ressie. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Ressie today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ressie births was 1923 (64 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ressie. 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 Ressie is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ressies were born before 1960.
People living today
227
~ 1 in 1,509,931 Americans
Peak year
1923
64 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1923 SSA rank
#4,766
Tracked since 1881
Gender
Gender distribution for Ressie
Out of the 1,841 babies given the name Ressie since 1880, 99.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Ressie as a male name
- Ranked #4,766 in 1923
- 5 male births in 1923
- Peak: 1921 (7 births)
Ressie as a female name
- Ranked #11,701 in 1981
- 5 female births in 1981
- Peak: 1917 (63 births)
Popularity
Ressie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ressie from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 441 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ressie 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 Ressie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ressies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Ressie, while Georgia, Texas, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ressie
The name Ressie is derived from the French word "ressource," which means "resource" or "supply." It is a feminine form of the name Ress, which was originally a nickname or diminutive of the name Ressource. The name first emerged in the late 18th century in France and was later adopted in other parts of Europe and the English-speaking world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ressie appears in a French novel from the early 19th century, where it was used as a character's name. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until the mid-19th century, when it became a fashionable name among the French bourgeoisie.
In the late 19th century, the name Ressie began to appear in historical records and census data in the United States and other English-speaking countries. One of the earliest documented bearers of the name was Ressie Faulkner, an American educator and activist born in 1868 in Mississippi. She was a prominent figure in the women's suffrage movement and worked tirelessly to promote education for African Americans in the South.
Another notable bearer of the name was Ressie Jeffries (1899-1986), an American singer and actress who performed on Broadway and in vaudeville shows in the early 20th century. She was known for her powerful vocals and her ability to captivate audiences with her stage presence.
In the literary world, Ressie was the name of a character in the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, published in 1939. The character, a young woman from Oklahoma, represented the resilience and determination of the Dust Bowl migrants who sought a better life in California during the Great Depression.
Other famous Ressies throughout history include Ressie Lillian Potts (1905-1995), an American artist and sculptor known for her works depicting African American life and culture, and Ressie Mae Carter (1923-2005), a pioneering African American nurse who served in the U.S. Army during World War II and later became a prominent advocate for healthcare access and civil rights.
People
Ressie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ressie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ressie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ressie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 227 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ressie 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 1,509,931 US residents.
Is Ressie a common name?
We classify Ressie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,841 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ressie most popular?
The single biggest year for Ressie was 1923, when 64 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ressie is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ressie a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Ressie 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.
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.