Names/E

Ester

girls’ nameComebackCompare

Ester is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 143 births. Its best rank was 368th, in 1905.

Rank in 2024
outside the top 1,000
Births in 2024
1430.01% of girls
Peak year
1925281 births
Best rank
#368in 1905
Since 1881
17,018people given the name
Babies named Ester, by year of birthgirls
012525037550018801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

16,127 girls have been named Ester in the United States since 1881, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1925, with 281 births.

This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1949, and the 1920s alone account for 15%. It has spent 85 of 145 years in the top 1,000.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 891 boys have also been given it, 5.2% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadegirls named Ester
1880s115
1890s387
1900s622
1910s1,573
1920s2,373
1930s1,577
1940s1,581
1950s1,584
1960s1,183
1970s745
1980s727
1990s754
2000s1,009
2010s1,190
2020s707

In 1925, its biggest year

Ester was the 411th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1925 were Mary, Dorothy, Betty, Helen and Margaret. See all of 1925.

Names that rose and fell with Ester

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.