Jesse
- Pronunciation
- [Jesse, Je-see]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Wealthy
- Origin
- Hebrew
About the Name Jesse
Jesse descends from the Hebrew Yishai, traditionally derived from a root meaning "gift" or "the Lord exists" — etymologists disagree on the exact derivation. The biblical Jesse is the father of King David — making Jesse one of the most theologically consequential figures in the Hebrew Bible despite his relatively brief biographical role. Christian medieval tradition produced the iconographic motif of the Tree of Jesse, which depicts the genealogy of Jesus through David and Jesse — appearing on countless medieval European stained-glass windows and manuscript illustrations.
The name has been continuously used in Jewish tradition for over three thousand years, and Christian English-language adoption came primarily through Puritan-era Old Testament revival. Notable American bearers include legendary outlaw Jesse James (1847–1882, the Confederate-veteran-turned-outlaw whose post-Civil-War robberies and 1882 murder by gang member Robert Ford made him one of the iconic figures of the American West), Olympic athlete Jesse Owens (1913–1980, the African-American sprinter whose four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics made him a foundational figure of American civil-rights memory), and contemporary actor Jesse Eisenberg.
Jesse held a US top-50 boys' rank from 1972 through 2002 — three decades of top-tier American popularity. The name has receded since but remains in steady use. The name's appeal is its compact biblical-and-Western register combined with two short syllables that work across casual and formal registers. The name has been used increasingly for both boys and girls. Common nicknames Jess (the dominant short form, gender-neutral) and the rare Jessie (alternate spelling, predominantly female) each carry distinct registers; the longer formal Jesse is itself one of the few biblical-derived names that doesn't lengthen further. International forms are minimal since the name has remained essentially Hebrew/English; the related Yishai remains in use in Israeli Hebrew naming.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Jesse
US Popularity History (1880–2025)
Annual US births named Jesse by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1981 with 10,444 boys named Jesse (boy rank #37 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #184 for boys (2,002 US births). That's 147 places below its 1981 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Jesse Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Jesse the strongest states are Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyoming | #106 | 22 |
| 2 | Alaska | #126 | 71 |
| 3 | Hawaii | #128 | 49 |
| 4 | South Dakota | #140 | 92 |
| 5 | California | #140 | 2,911 |
| 6 | Montana | #146 | 84 |
| 7 | Texas | #156 | 2,377 |
| 8 | New Mexico | #159 | 138 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | #160 | 289 |
| 10 | Arizona | #160 | 509 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | #300 | 197 |
| 2 | Connecticut | #298 | 95 |
| 3 | New Jersey | #291 | 282 |
| 4 | Florida | #266 | 690 |
| 5 | Iowa | #256 | 142 |
| 6 | New York | #249 | 732 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | #244 | 233 |
| 8 | Louisiana | #243 | 218 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | #243 | 229 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #235 | 209 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Jesse in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Jesse
5 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Jesse.
- Jesse Jackson — Civil Rights Leader (1941)
- Jesse James — Reality Star (1847)
- Jesse McCartney — Pop Singer (1987)
- Jesse Owens — Runner (1913)
- Jesse Ventura — Wrestler (1951)
Looking for names like Jesse?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Jesse to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Jesse against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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