Jesse
A Hebrew name meaning "gift". Only around 130 people in Poland carry it, almost all of them men, so most Poles have never met a Jesse, though a few boys have taken it lately.
Jesse Pronunciation
What Jesse means
Where Jesse comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jesse begins in Hebrew, as Yishai, and reaches Polish readers wearing an English coat. In the Hebrew Bible, Jesse of Bethlehem was the father of King David, the shepherd who rose to the throne. Readers have long attached the sense of "gift" to the name, podarunek in Polish. That meaning came to it over centuries, and it sits well on a child.
Medieval churches gave Jesse a second life. The Tree of Jesse, a design in stained glass and painted manuscripts, shows a family line growing from a sleeping Jesse up toward Jesus. You can still find it in cathedral windows across Europe. The name marks a root and a beginning.
English speakers took up Jesse in force after the Reformation, when families reached for Old Testament names. It crossed to America and stayed common. Short and plain, with one meaning to carry.
A Polish teacher reading a class register might pause at Jesse among the Jakubs and Szymons. It looks foreign and it is. The Hebrew root holds: a name once read as gift.
How many people are named Jesse
1 in 165474 men in Poland is named Jesse. 135 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2848 among male names.
Jesse's popularity over time
2 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1622 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2023.
Where Jesse is most popular
Jesse is most popular in Lesser Poland, 376% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+205%).
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Lesser Poland2 boys born+376%
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Masovian2 boys born+205%
Jesse as a middle name
Jesse is a first name for 135 men in Poland and a middle name for another 33, an 80/20 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1443rd, between Hieu (33) and Josue (33).
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#1441 Gűnter33
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#1442 Hieu33
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#1443 Jesse33
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#1444 Josue33
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#1445 Kishor33