Hessie
Hessie was last recorded in 1959, when 6 babies were given it; 1,134 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1959 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hessie by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Hessie?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #5,820, in 1959; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
49 babies in 1920, the peak
Hessie peaked in 1920, when 49 babies were given it (44 girls, #1,145 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 6 | #5,820 | 3.0 |
| 1958 | 6 | #5,669 | 3.0 |
| 1957 | 7 | #5,086 | 3.4 |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,070 | 2.6 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,144 | 3.2 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,476 | 4.1 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,021 | 4.7 |
| 1948 | 11 | #3,220 | 6.5 |
| 1947 | 6 | #4,962 | 3.4 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,227 | 4.6 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | 7 | #3,849 | 5.3 |
| 1943 | 13 | #2,615 | 9.3 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,283 | 6.7 |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,668 | 4.1 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,055 | 14.0 |
| 1939 | 8 | #3,254 | 7.3 |
| 1938 | 6 | #4,038 | 5.4 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,370 | 12.2 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,319 | 12.5 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,630 | 10.5 |
| 1934 | 9 | #3,012 | 8.6 |
| 1933 | 16 | #1,995 | 15.9 |
| 1932 | 17 | #1,989 | 15.9 |
| 1931 | 15 | #2,141 | 14.1 |
| 1930 | 14 | #2,356 | 12.4 |
| 1929 | 18 | #1,974 | 16.1 |
| 1928 | 17 | #2,131 | 14.7 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,694 | 21.0 |
| 1926 | 18 | #2,111 | 15.2 |
| 1925 | 19 | #2,068 | 15.6 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,690 | 20.8 |
| 1923 | 25 | #1,697 | 20.7 |
| 1922 | 32 | #1,442 | 26.6 |
| 1921 | 29 | #1,557 | 23.5 |
| 1920 | 44 | #1,145 | 36.7 |
| 1919 | 37 | #1,255 | 32.7 |
| 1918 | 27 | #1,551 | 23.3 |
| 1917 | 28 | #1,417 | 25.9 |
| 1916 | 35 | #1,218 | 33.5 |
| 1915 | 33 | #1,209 | 33.5 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,690 | 21.0 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,430 | 27.2 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,192 | 35.8 |
| 1911 | 18 | #1,047 | 43.0 |
| 1910 | 22 | #927 | 55.5 |
| 1909 | 14 | #1,120 | 40.3 |
| 1908 | 16 | #1,024 | 47.9 |
| 1907 | 19 | #883 | 59.6 |
| 1906 | 20 | #827 | 67.7 |
| 1905 | 16 | #946 | 54.9 |
| 1904 | 11 | #1,131 | 39.9 |
| 1903 | 12 | #1,052 | 45.8 |
| 1902 | 18 | #830 | 68.2 |
| 1901 | 20 | #730 | 83.6 |
| 1900 | 22 | #788 | 73.4 |
| 1899 | 18 | #773 | 77.2 |
| 1898 | 14 | #938 | 54.1 |
| 1897 | 13 | #911 | 55.5 |
| 1896 | 20 | #714 | 84.1 |
| 1895 | 15 | #839 | 64.2 |
| 1894 | 13 | #874 | 58.3 |
| 1893 | 13 | #842 | 61.1 |
| 1892 | 13 | #844 | 61.2 |
| 1891 | 10 | #912 | 53.9 |
| 1890 | 10 | #898 | 52.5 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,067 | 39.2 |
| 1888 | 9 | #919 | 50.4 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,211 | 34.3 |
| 1886 | 7 | #935 | 48.4 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,113 | 37.6 |
| 1884 | 6 | #968 | 46.5 |
| 1883 | 8 | #725 | 71.2 |
| 1882 | 5 | #961 | 46.4 |
| 1881 | 7 | #712 | 76.1 |
| 1880 | 6 | #788 | 65.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Hessie a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,134 Americans recorded as Hessie, 99% are girls and 1% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Hessie: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hessie, and how old are they?
An estimated 102 Americans named Hessie and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (9% of everyone recorded); the median is 82 years old and half are between 76 and 88. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 205 people named Hessie (184 women and girls, 21 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 160 born in the U.S. The Census count is 28% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Hessie born?
The states with the most babies named Hessie are North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, with 89% of its births recorded by state since 1910; South Carolina and Tennessee are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 105 | not ranked | 3.9× |
| South Carolina | 31 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Tennessee | 14 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 7 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Kentucky | 6 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Alabama | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Hessie is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hessie is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 3.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Hessie with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Hessie
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Hessie and names like it
- Compare Hessie and GussieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHessie peaked in 1920.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hessie since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Hessie.
- The names of the Silent GenerationMost people named Hessie alive today were born 1928-1945.
- Names starting with HMost given first.