Jess for a boy?

[OkayHazel]

I really like Jess and Jesse, but are there any longer names that these two derive from?

Feel like I just don't know enough about this name!

[DialMforMummy]

I know a guy called Jesse. I love this name.

[Kt8791]

My friends son is called Jesse and I really like it.

[Imsosorryalan]

No, too girly. Sorry

[Sunnysummer]

There's also Jessamy - a traditional longer name and also a character in a Georgette Heyer book (yes, I'm not cool at all ).

[seeker]

Jessamy is a girls's name. Please don't call a boy Jessamy.

I would say don't call a boy Jesse either- sorry. Really, really not fair.

[Kt8791]

I also thought jessamy was a girls name?

[bigbluebump]

I know a Jesse. Don't think he's got a longer name, think its just Jesse.

[NotTreadingGrapes]

He will get teased for all eternity. Please don't.

Cowboys in the old west might have been able to carry it off because they could shoot people who took the piss.

Little boys are advised perhaps not to.

[Bearandcub]

Disagree with the nay-sayers, I think Jesse is a great name. And is pronounced Jess.

I also think the negative side they are referring to is dated and homophobic and spelt differently: you big Jessie.

[seeker]

Jesse is pronounced Jessy.

Go and find an 11 year old boy. Ask him how he would react if a boy called Jesse joined his class.

Then call your child something else.

[chimchar]

I love it.....knew a very good looking hunky one when I was a teen, so good associations in my mind!

[NotTreadingGrapes]

The different spelling doesn't change the pronunciation. It's pronounced Jessy as others have said, and like it or not, the connotation is not dated.

Do what Seeker suggests and ask some teen boys (or girls) their opinion.

[NotTreadingGrapes]

How old is he?

[dadofnone]

DS'sfriend is called Jess. He is 17, 6ft2, drummer and top mountain biker.
Lovely lad. I would have picked that name for DS if I had thought of it.

[seeker]

Good. They are lucky. Another child mightn't be. Why on earth run the risk? Just bizarre.

I hope that my 12 year old would be self controlled and polite enough not to tease a Jesse. But I know that many of his class mates wouldn't.

[noblegiraffe]

Jess the cat in Postman Pat is a boy, but everyone thinks it's a girl.
I imagine being constantly mistaken for a girl might get annoying.

[BettyandDon]

In Scotland, there is a phrase 'big Jesse' which means that a man is a wuss. So definitely don't use if at any point you could end up there.

[purples]

My daughter is at school with a couple of girls called Jessica, in the playground it is shorten it to Jess for one and Jessie for the other; so i really wouldn't recommend it for a boy.
Hopefully you're not thinking of James as a middle name....

[almostanotherday]

I don't think it matters what you actually name your DC if someone wants to take the piss out of a name they will find away no matter how carefully you chose the name.

[KittenOfDoom]

Jesse (the boy's name) is frequently misspelt Jessie by ignorant people, because the two names are pronounced the same. It is a pity.

I don't see a huge problem about it being similar to a girl's name though - there have always been unisex names with or without spelling variations, eg Leslie/Lesley, Lee, Ashley etc

and with the current popularity of American-style surname names, the boundaries are increasingly blurred.

[AuntieStella]

Jessamy is a traditional boys name, but has fallen into disuse (you only really see it in literature).

Jesse is widely used in US, but I don't think the phrase "you big jessie" is common slang there.

[OkayHazel]

I'm not pregnant. I was just wondering if there was more to this name.

Very interesting about Jessamy, sounds male to my ear - and was the kind of answer I was looking for. Like lots of names they change gender over time. Going off to Google that one.