Yeshaya vs Yessenia
American parents have registered 7,466 Yessenias since 1880, against 856 Yeshayas. But in 2025 it was Yeshaya that was commoner, 42 babies to 18.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Yeshaya Yessenia
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 55 years in which either name was published, Yessenia for 50 years and Yeshaya for 5 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.
Side by side
| Yeshaya | Yessenia | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 856 | 7,466 |
| Most in one year | 44 | 337 |
| Babies in 2025 | 42 | 18 |
| Estimated living today | 840 | 7,300 |
| Median age today | 12 | 28 |
| Peak year | 2024 | 1990 |
| Best rank | 2,873rd boys | 663rd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 2,941st | 6,325th |
| First recorded | 1976 | 1971 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 856 | 7,454 / 12 |
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 Yessenias alive today are over 28; half the Yeshayas are over 12. That is 16 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Yeshaya New Jersey (14.5×), New York (7.4×)
- Yessenia California (4.2×), Arizona (3.3×), Nevada (2.7×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Yeshaya and Yessenia.