Step 1 : Introduction to the question "Which Shakespeare play has the first known written use of the name Jessica?"
If your name is "Jessica," you probably have none other than the literary maestro William Shakespeare to thank. His play "The Merchant of Venice" is believed to be the oldest written document that includes the name "Jessica" in print. In the play, Jessica is the daughter of the money lender Shylock. The name seems to be an anglicization of the Hebrew name "Iskah," which was translated as "Jeska" in Bibles of Shakespeare's time. According to the Social Security Administration, it was one of the most popular names for girls in the 1980s and 1990s.