Jesse ranks #449 with 272 entries, registered male. The name comes from Hebrew Yishai (gift, or my god exists), best known biblically as the father of King David. Modern American adoption sits at a crossroads of country-Western tradition, biblical register, and contemporary pop culture.
The pop-culture layers
Several cultural anchors keep Jesse in active rotation. Jesse James, the 19th-century outlaw, gave the name its country-outlaw legacy. Toy Story 2's Jessie (1999) added a kid-facing cowgirl register. Breaking Bad's Jesse Pinkman (2008-2013) brought a contemporary, slightly tragic register. Full House's Uncle Jesse (1987-1995) gave the name a warmer family-sitcom anchor. Each generation reaches the name through a different door.
Sound fit and breed lean
Two syllables (JESS-ee), front-stressed, with a singing trailing vowel that recalls easily across distance. The name lands well on a wide range of breeds without strongly favoring any single cluster — Labradors, Goldens, Australian Shepherds, Border Collies, and friendly mixed breeds. The breed-neutrality is unusual for a name this far down the chart.
The unisex layer
Worth flagging: Jesse and Jessie are spelled differently but pronounced identically, and the pet-naming data conflates them. The Jesse spelling skews male and biblical; the Jessie spelling skews female and Toy Story. Both feed the same call name. The human Jesse page shows steady SSA presence with the male-leaning trajectory holding across decades, even as the female Jessie spelling has cooled meaningfully on the human side.