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Essa vs Essiemae

American parents have registered 986 Essas since 1880, against 23 Essiemaes. Essa is still ahead, with 61 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Essa against Essiemae, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Essa Essiemae

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 54 years in which either name was published, Essa for 52 years and Essiemae for 2 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Essa Essiemae
Total US births 98623
Most in one year 7112
Babies in 2025 61under 5
Estimated living today 8900
Median age today 8104
Peak year 20221915
Best rank 2,438th boys2,384th girls
Rank in 2025 2,572ndunranked
First recorded 18851915
Girls / boys 226 / 76023 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Essiemaes alive today are over 104; half the Essas are over 8. That is 96 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Essa and Essiemae.