Jessica

Where Jessica comes from

First used by William Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice in the early 17th century, probably from Hebrew יִסְכָּה (yiská, “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe version”), a proper name meaning "he will see/behold/look for", the 3ms imperfect form of a verb ultimately from the root ס־כ־ה (s-k-h), itself an alternative form of the root שׂ־כ־ה (ś-k-h), both of which mean "to see, behold, look for". * By folk etymology seen as an elaborate form of Jessie, from Jane.
— Wiktionary's entry for Jessica
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #679 among girls — 7 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1949
    Jessica Lange born
    American actress
  3. 1981
    Jessica Alba born
    American actress and businesswoman
  4. 1987
    Peak, #1
    55,992 babies named Jessica — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1995
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Hebrew.
Namesakes
  • Jessica Alba · American actress and businesswoman, born 1981
  • Jessica Lange · American actress, born 1949
  • Jessica Simpson · American singer and actress, born 1980
  • Jessica Biel · American actress, born 1982
  • Jessica Chastain · American actress and producer, born 1977

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.