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 [ 3 syll. jes-si-ca, je-ss-ica ] The girl name Jessica is pronounced as JHEHSihKah KEY. Jessica is used chiefly in the English and German languages. Its origin is Hebrew. The meaning of the name is God beholds, foresight. The name was first used by Shakespeare in naming the daughter of Shylock in his play The Merchant of Venice (1596). It appears that Shakespeare derived the name from Iscah (Hebrew) or the alternative form Jesca (Hebrew), which appeared in the book of Genesis of the Bible as the name of a daughter of Haran. These two biblical names are in turn derived from Yiskah (Hebrew), which is of the root word 'sakhah' (to see). The name has long been associated with Jews, and it appears that this was Shakespeare's intention as well. The name was used occasionally by English speakers from the 16th century, and it saw a revival in the late 19th century. The name Jessica is widely used; it has 42 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Jessica used in English include Jassica, Jesenia, Jessa, Jessah, Jessalyn, Jessamyn, Jessca, Jesscia, Jesse, Jessi, Jessia, Jessicia, Jessiya, Jesslyn, Jessy (also used in German), Jezeca, Jezica, Jezika, Jezyca, Jyssika, Lajessica, Tjessica, and Yessica. Other English forms include the short forms Jess and Jessie (also used in German), the pet form Jecca, and the variant spellings Jesaca, Jesica, Jesicca, Jesika, Jessaca, Jesseca, Jessicca, Jessicka, Jessika (also used in German), Jessiqua, Jessyca, Jessyka, and Jesyka. Gessica (Italian), Janka (Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and German), and Jesca (Frisian) are foreign variants of the name. Jessica is a popular baby girl name. The name's popularity rose from the 1930s up to the 1980s. Its usage peaked in 1987 with 2.990% of baby girls being given the name Jessica. It was #1 in rank then. The baby name has experienced a steep loss in popularity since then. In 2008, its usage was only 0.228% and its ranking #59, but it was nonetheless the most popular among all girl names in its family. In 2008, Jessica was used 10 times more than the subsequent ranked name, Jessie (English, Scottish, and German). The name Jessica has been primarily given to girls, though it has also been used as a boy name in the last century. In 1991, 375 times as many girls than boys were given the name Jessica. Baby names that sound like Jessica include Tjessica (English), Jadzia (Scandinavian), Jassica (English), Jesaca (English), Jesica (English), Jesicca (English), Jesika (English), Jessaca (English), Jesseca (English), Jessia (English), Jessicca (English), Jessicia (English), Jessicka (English), Jessika (English and German), Jessiqua (English), Jessiya (English), Jessyca (English), Jessyka (English), Jesusa (Spanish), and Jesyka (English). Details of famous persons named Jessica: KEY: Pronunciation for Jessica: JH as in "gee (JH.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
