Jessie
Usually a surname taken from the given name Jessie, itself a pet form of Jean, Jane, or Jessamine in some families.
The #8,435 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 78,842 Americans shares it.
Etymology
As a surname, Jessie is generally understood as deriving from the personal name Jessie rather than from an older independent family-name root. Jessie is commonly a familiar form of Jean or Jane in Scotland and English-speaking usage, and in some cases it may also reflect use of a surname as a forename. The literal sense is therefore not a separate dictionary word meaning, but a name-based formation from a given name.
History
The historical excerpts mainly show Jessie appearing as a personal name in Scottish and British families, not as a well-established hereditary surname. Nineteenth-century writers also note that Jessie can be confused in writing with Jesse, and that surnames and given names sometimes cross over. In modern US records, Jessie is uncommon as a surname and is much more familiar as a first name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older handwriting, Jessie and Jesse were sometimes mistaken for one another, which is one reason the name can be tricky in historical records.
From the historical record
“Race Jessie Western Bithia”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom