How rare is the name Esther?

131,090 people in the United States have the first name Esther, about 1 in 2,304. It ranks #432 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ESTHER

#432

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
131,090
About
1 in 2,304
This common or more
55.7%
Who bears it

Of the 131,090 people named Esther, 45.1% reported their origin as White, 30.5% as Hispanic or Latino and 13.3% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Esther peaked in 1918, when 6,588 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1918
Births that year
6,588
In 2025*
2,277 ▼65%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 272,206 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Esther by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1900s, when it ranked #46. The largest share of babies named Esther, 40.1%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#1413,476
1890s#5214,796
1900s#4620,097
1910s#6149,367
1920s#9649,420
1930s#17225,987
1940s#28617,731
1950s#38515,808
1960s#52110,139
1970s#5997,318
1980s#5418,884
1990s#5979,447
2000s#56511,488
2010s#44815,948
2020s#33212,300
Before 19017.5%
Greatest Generation 1901–2740.1%
Silent Generation 1928–4516.2%
Baby boom 1946–6410.7%
Generation X 1965–804.5%
Millennials 1981–965.4%
Generation Z 1997–126.7%
2013 and later8.9%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Esther is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Esther has been most common in North Dakota (3×), South Dakota (2.2×), and New York (1.7×), and least common in Nevada (0.26×).

230,142 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Esther

#430 Raul · 131,547#431 Greg · 131,523#433 Lucy · 130,370#434 Diego · 129,961

Spelled almost the same

One first name in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Esther, most common first.

#1,835 Ester · 15,869

Also a last name

As a last name, Esther ranks #34,480 of 156,621, with 708 people. See Esther as a last name

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