Essence
#1,163 for girls in 2025, 199 births · #10,695 for boys in 2025, 6 births
Given to girls 99.8% of the time
- Peak · girls
- 1998 · 565 births
- Debut · girls
- 8 births
- In top 100 · girls
- neverof 146 years
- Total births · girls
- 10,744since 1973
Essence over time
Rank among girls' names. Essence has never cracked the top 400 here.
Gaps mean fewer than 5 babies received the name that year, so the SSA doesn't publish it.
Show data table
| Year | girls | boys | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| rank | births | rank | births | |
| 2025 | #1,163 | 199 | #10,695 | 6 |
| 2024 | #1,085 | 228 | #10,938 | 6 |
| 2023 | #1,012 | 250 | — | |
| 2022 | #1,015 | 256 | — | |
| 2021 | #1,441 | 149 | #12,146 | 5 |
| 2020 | #1,227 | 186 | — | |
| 2019 | #1,474 | 149 | — | |
| 2018 | #1,425 | 155 | — | |
| 2017 | #1,495 | 148 | — | |
| 2016 | #1,614 | 136 | — | |
| 2015 | #1,464 | 157 | — | |
| 2014 | #1,270 | 189 | — | |
| 2013 | #1,192 | 201 | — | |
| 2012 | #1,096 | 225 | — | |
| 2011 | #1,019 | 245 | — | |
| 2010 | #1,015 | 247 | — | |
| 2009 | #1,006 | 263 | — | |
| 2008 | #977 | 274 | — | |
| 2007 | #944 | 287 | — | |
| 2006 | #838 | 320 | — | |
| 2005 | #928 | 268 | — | |
| 2004 | #813 | 308 | — | |
| 2003 | #749 | 333 | — | |
| 2002 | #846 | 273 | — | |
| 2001 | #741 | 322 | — | |
| 2000 | #583 | 447 | — | |
| 1999 | #491 | 529 | — | |
| 1998 | #456 | 565 | — | |
| 1997 | #542 | 440 | — | |
| 1996 | #542 | 431 | — | |
| 1995 | #490 | 502 | — | |
| 1994 | #775 | 262 | — | |
| 1993 | #817 | 245 | — | |
| 1992 | #876 | 226 | — | |
| 1991 | #973 | 193 | — | |
| 1990 | #1,219 | 138 | — | |
| 1989 | #1,383 | 109 | — | |
| 1988 | #1,384 | 102 | — | |
| 1987 | #1,404 | 95 | — | |
| 1986 | #1,405 | 91 | — | |
| 1985 | #1,710 | 67 | — | |
| 1984 | #1,446 | 80 | — | |
| 1983 | #1,220 | 104 | — | |
| 1982 | #1,608 | 72 | — | |
| 1981 | #2,085 | 49 | — | |
| 1980 | #2,154 | 47 | — | |
| 1979 | #1,977 | 52 | — | |
| 1978 | #2,350 | 38 | — | |
| 1977 | #3,083 | 25 | — | |
| 1976 | #3,095 | 23 | — | |
| 1975 | #3,637 | 18 | — | |
| 1974 | #3,558 | 18 | — | |
| 1973 | #6,080 | 8 | — | |
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The first year at least five girls were named Essence! It came in at #6,080, and was given to 8 baby girls.
Quietest stretch: 1973, when fewer than 9 girls a year got the name.
Where Essence is popular in 1996
- Rank in state
- Top 10
- 11–50
- 51–100
- 101–500
- 501+
- Not published
Hover or tap a state for its numbers.
- South Carolina#173 · 1 in 813
- Mississippi#256 · 1 in 1,161
- Virginia#323 · 1 in 1,897
- North Carolina#329 · 1 in 1,968
- New Jersey#340 · 1 in 2,117
Best ever in a state: #146 in South Carolina, 1995.
Show every state
| State | Rank | Births | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | #173 | 20 | 1 in 813 |
| Mississippi | #256 | 10 | 1 in 1,161 |
| Virginia | #323 | 18 | 1 in 1,897 |
| North Carolina | #329 | 20 | 1 in 1,968 |
| New Jersey | #340 | 20 | 1 in 2,117 |
| Louisiana | #370 | 11 | 1 in 1,959 |
| Pennsylvania | #381 | 24 | 1 in 2,523 |
| New York | #383 | 47 | 1 in 2,220 |
| Maryland | #438 | 9 | 1 in 2,746 |
| Missouri | #442 | 10 | 1 in 2,955 |
| Kentucky | #453 | 6 | 1 in 3,273 |
| Alabama | #456 | 7 | 1 in 2,938 |
| Connecticut | #456 | 5 | 1 in 3,262 |
| Illinois | #506 | 23 | 1 in 3,106 |
| Michigan | #509 | 15 | 1 in 3,470 |
| Tennessee | #527 | 8 | 1 in 3,702 |
| Oklahoma | #539 | 5 | 1 in 3,194 |
| Georgia | #543 | 11 | 1 in 3,773 |
| Wisconsin | #557 | 6 | 1 in 4,232 |
| Indiana | #566 | 8 | 1 in 4,112 |
| Florida | #584 | 17 | 1 in 4,278 |
| Ohio | #642 | 12 | 1 in 5,177 |
| Massachusetts | #705 | 5 | 1 in 6,440 |
| Texas | #728 | 27 | 1 in 5,168 |
| California | #763 | 41 | 1 in 5,604 |
| Washington | #818 | 5 | 1 in 5,708 |
| Alaska | — | — | — |
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| Vermont | — | — | — |
| West Virginia | — | — | — |
| Wyoming | — | — | — |
Ranks are within each state; “1 in N” is out of the girls born there that year. The SSA only publishes a name in a state when 5 or more babies of one sex got it.
See more about Essence
- 78 spots since 2024 (#1,085 → #1,163)
- 64 spots since 2020 (#1,227 → #1,163)
- 301 spots since 2015 (#1,464 → #1,163)
- Biggest jump: 285 spots in 1995 (#775 → #490)
- Biggest drop: 158 spots in 2001 (#583 → #741)
- Debuted 1973
- Peaked 1998 at #456 (565 births)
- Births halved by 2002, 4 yrs later
- Top 10: never
- Top 100: never
- Top 1,000: 18 yrs · run 1991–2008
- Highest: 1 in 3,127 girls born in 1998 were named Essence (0.03%)
- Latest: 1 in 8,077 girls born in 2025 (0.01%)
- 32.9% of all girls named Essence (3,531) were born in this decade
Show by decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank | Avg rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 182 | #1,977 (1979) | #3,397 |
| 1980s | 816 | #1,220 (1983) | #1,580 |
| 1990s | 3,531 | #456 (1998) | #718 |
| 2000s | 3,095 | #583 (2000) | #843 |
| 2010s | 1,852 | #1,015 (2010) | #1,306 |
| 2020s | 1,268 | #1,012 (2023) | #1,157 |
All figures count published births only (names given to at least 5 girls in a year). Registrations before 1937 are incomplete, so early shares and totals run low.
Essence in 1996
Top girls' names in 1996
More about 1996
girls
1,753,007 girls got a published name in 1996; 1 in 4,067 of them was named Essence, which outranked 96.6% of the 15,894 girls' names that year. The ten most popular names covered 11.5% of girls (24.6% in 1880, 7.0% in 2025).