How rare is the name Essence?

7,458 people in the United States have the first name Essence, about 1 in 40,498. It ranks #3,003 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ESSENCE

#3,003

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
7,458
About
1 in 40,498
This common or more
81.4%
Who bears it

Of the 7,458 people named Essence, 80.9% reported their origin as Black, 7.2% as Hispanic or Latino and 6.5% as two or more races. Virtually all are female (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Essence peaked in 1998, when 565 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19732025
Peak year
1998
Births that year
565
In 2025*
205 ▼64%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 10,761 babies have been given the name since 1973. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Essence by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1990s, when it ranked #1,179. The largest share of babies named Essence, 49.7%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1970s#5,685182
1980s#2,460816
1990s#1,1793,531
2000s#1,4983,095
2010s#2,3221,852
2020s#2,1371,285
Generation X 1965–802.1%
Millennials 1981–9625.7%
Generation Z 1997–1249.7%
2013 and later22.5%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Essence is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Essence has been most common in South Carolina (2.8×), North Carolina (2.3×), and Georgia (2.2×), and least common in Washington (0.22×).

8,697 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Essence

#3,000 Lani · 7,463#3,002 Abner · 7,461#3,004 Case · 7,457#3,005 Sydnee · 7,449

Spelled almost the same

3 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Essence, most common first.

#40,711 Essynce · 182#41,535 Essance · 176#53,558 Essense · 97

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