Ches
A diminutive form of the name Chester, derived from Old English meaning "camp town".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Ches. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ches today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ches births was 1977 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ches. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ches. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1977
5 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1997 SSA rank
#9,500
Tracked since 1977
Census
Ches in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 123 people with the first name Ches, which placed it at #49,809 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#49,809
National first-name rank
People counted
123
123 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ches
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ches is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ches described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ches at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.3% · 100
- Black or African American6.5% · 8
- Two or more races4.9% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 4
Popularity
Ches: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ches from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ches by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ches during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ches
The name Ches is a diminutive form of the name Chester, which is derived from the Latin name Castra, meaning "camp" or "fort." This reflects the name's origins in the Roman era, when it was likely given to someone living near a Roman military camp or fortification.
The earliest known bearers of the name Chester were found in records from Anglo-Saxon England, where it was often used as a place name for settlements that had grown around former Roman forts or camps. One of the most notable examples is the city of Chester in Cheshire, which was originally a Roman fort called Deva Victrix.
In the Middle Ages, the name Chester was occasionally used as a given name, although its popularity was limited. One of the earliest recorded instances was Chester of Ponthieu, a Norman nobleman who lived in the 11th century and participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
The diminutive form Ches emerged later, likely as a nickname or shortened version of Chester. One of the earliest known bearers of this variation was Ches Chetwind, an English landowner and member of Parliament who lived in the 16th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name Ches or its variants. Ches McCartney was a British folksinger and songwriter from the early 20th century, known for his work in preserving traditional songs from the north of England. Ches Muir was a Scottish professional footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s, and Ches Baragwanath was a South African cricketer who represented his country in the 1920s.
Another historical figure with the name was Ches Penney, an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the J.C. Penney department store chain in the early 20th century. Ches Rayner was a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the House of Commons in the mid-20th century.
While the name Ches has not been among the most common given names in modern times, it has a rich history rooted in the Roman era and has been borne by notable individuals throughout various periods and regions.
People
Ches + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ches as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ches: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ches?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ches going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Ches a common name?
We classify Ches as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ches most popular?
The single biggest year for Ches was 1977, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ches is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ches in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 123 people with the name Ches, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,809 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ches in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ches?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ches leans strongly male. 110 people counted with this name were male (86.6%), compared with 17 female bearers (13.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ches?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ches is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ches most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ches in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (100 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ches in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ches a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ches in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ches still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ches in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ches can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Ches as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Ches on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.