Essa is an Arabic form of the name of Jesus, which goes back through Greek and Aramaic to the Hebrew Yeshua and means "the Lord is salvation". In the Quran Isa, as the name is usually transliterated, is one of the great prophets, so the name is common across the Muslim world. In the United States Essa is rare but steady: it ranked number 7670 in 2000, reached number 2449 in 2022 and stood at number 2581 in 2025 with 51 boys.