Jessica (given name)

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For other uses, see Jessica (disambiguation).
Jessica
Shylock e jessica.jpeg
Shylock and Jessica by Maurycy Gottlieb. The first use of the name Jessica is found in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
Gender Female
Origin
Word/Name English derived from Hebrew
Meaning Foresighted, God's Grace, Wealthy, "He Sees"
Region of origin Hebrew
Popularity see popular names

Jessica is the name that is Hebrew
Look up Jessica in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Jessica (also Jesica, Jessicah or Jessika[1]) is a female given name.

The oldest written record of the name with its current spelling is found as the name of a character in Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice, where it belongs to the daughter of Shylock. The name may have been an Anglicisation of the Biblical Iskah (from the Hebrew: יִסְכָּה : yiskāh), the name of a daughter of Haran briefly mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Iskah was rendered "Jeska" in English Bibles available in Shakespeare's day.[2]

The original Hebrew name Yiskāh (יִסְכָּה), means "foresight", or being able to see the potential in the future. The Hebrew root sakhah (ס.כ.ה) means "to see," so the name Yiskah, with the added yod, implies foresight or clairvoyance. Yiskah is the niece of Abraham.

"Jessica" was the most popular female baby name throughout the 1980s[3] and 1990s[4] in the United States, with popularity waning starting in 1998 through the early 2000s and falling out of the Top 20 by 2004.[5] It also rose to #1 in England and Wales in 2005,[6] dropping to #3 in 2006.[7] Common abbreviations of the name Jessica include "Jess" and "Jessie".

Contents

Name variations and nicknames [edit]

Jes', Jess, Jessi, Jessa, Jessie, Jas, Jesse (more common for males), Jessy, Jeska, Jessika, Jessicka, Jessyka, Sica, Yessika, Yesika. Also in many Asian countries Jessica is spelled Jassica.

Variants by culture:

  • Arabic: جيسيكا (Ǧysykā)[8]
  • Catalan: Jèssica
  • Chinese (Mandarin): 潔西卡, 杰西卡[9] （Jiéxīkǎ, jie2 xi1 ka3）
  • Finnish: Jessika[8]
  • Frisian: Jesca
  • Gaelic: Seasaidh
  • Hindi: जेसिका[8] (Jēsikā)
  • Hungarian: Dzsesszika[10] ("Dzsessz":[11] pro. "Jase". Hungarian phoneticisation of "Jazz music").
  • Inuktitut: ᔨᔅᓯᑲ[8] (Jissika)
  • Italian: Gessica[12]
  • Japanese: Jeshika/Jieschika (Hiragana: じぇしか, Katakana: ジェシカ)
  • Korean: 제시카[8] (Jesika)
  • Lithuania: Džesika
  • Polish: Dżesika,[13] Jesica
  • Portuguese: Jéssica/Jessica
  • Russian: Джессика[14] (Džéssika)
  • Spanish: Yésica,[15] Jésica
  • Thai: เจสสิก้า[8] (Ces̄s̄ik̂ā)

Jewish variants & transliterations:

  • Hebrew: יִסְכָּה (Iscah)[16]
  • Hungarian Yiddish: יִסְכָּה (Jiszká)[10]
  • Yiddish: יִסְכָּה (Yiska)

Usage in Scotland [edit]

The Scottish variant of Jessie is Seasaidh/Teasaidh, (respectively pronounced "SHAY-cee" and "CHEH-cee"). It is important to note, however, that in Scotland the name Jessie is not related to Jessica. Instead, it is considered a pet form of the name Jean (from John), expressed in Gaelic variant as the names Seana (Shawna) or Sìne (Sheena). Related feminine names taken from John are Jane/Joan (Sìne), Janie (Sìneag), and Janet/Janice (Seònaid); all are considered equated.

An additional nickname for Jessie, heard in Scotland, is Jinty (or Jinny). This may or may not be the case in Ireland or Northern Ireland. It hints at the connection there to Jean (female given name)/Jane//Jennie.

People [edit]

Fictional characters [edit]

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Jesica
  2. ^ Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. A Dictionary of First Names. (1990). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211651-7.
  3. ^ Most Popular 1000 Names of the 1980s. Social Security Administration (SSA), United States. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  4. ^ Most Popular 1000 Names of the 1990s. Social Security Administration (SSA), United States. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  5. ^ http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/popularnames.cgi
  6. ^ Baby Names, England and Wales, 2005. Office for National Statistics (ONS), United Kingdom. Released: 28 July 2011.
  7. ^ Baby Names, England and Wales, 2006. Office for National Statistics (ONS), United Kingdom. Released: 28 July 2011.
  8. ^ a b c d e f http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Jessica
  9. ^ http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%BD%94%E8%A5%BF%E5%8D%A1
  10. ^ a b http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzsesszika
  11. ^ http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzsessz
  12. ^ http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gessica
  13. ^ http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%BCesika
  14. ^ http://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%86%D0%BC%D1%8F_%D0%94%D0%B6%D1%8D%D1%81%D1%96%D0%BA%D0%B0
  15. ^ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_%28nombre%29
  16. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iscah
  17. ^ http://trueblood.wikia.com/wiki/Jessica_Hamby She was created into a vampire by vampire Bill who had to do it as punishment for killing another vampire to protect Sookie Stackhouse
  18. ^ http://twilightsaga.wikia.com/wiki/Jessica_Stanley Jessica was Bella's friend in which was the second person she met after Eric
  19. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kyle_XY_characters
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