Chester
A masculine given name of Old English origin meaning "legionary camp".
Name Census estimates that about 37,929 living Americans carry the first name Chester. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Chester today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chester births was 1920 (3,726 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chester. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Chester with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Chester is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 828 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Chester is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Chesters were born before 1970.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Chester have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
38K
~ 1 in 9,037 Americans
Peak year
1920
3,726 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,650
Tracked since 1880
Census
Chester in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 35,871 people with the first name Chester, which placed it at #1,130 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
#1,130
National first-name rank
People counted
36K
35,871 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chester
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chester is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.5%). 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 Chester 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 Chester at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.1% · 26,216
- Black or African American17.7% · 6,339
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 1,261
- Two or more races2.5% · 894
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 689
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 472
Gender
Gender distribution for Chester
Out of the 122,197 babies given the name Chester since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Chester as a male name
- Ranked #1,650 in 2024
- 102 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (3,698 births)
Chester as a female name
- Ranked #10,560 in 1983
- 5 female births in 1983
- Peak: 1926 (35 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chester appears almost entirely male. Of the 35,868 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Chester: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chester from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 28,675 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chester 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 Chester during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chesters live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Chester, while Alaska, Nevada, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,114 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chester
The name Chester has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "castrum," which means "fortified place" or "camp." This word was likely used to refer to the Roman military encampments and fortified settlements established throughout their conquered territories.
In the early days of the Roman Empire, Chester was likely a name given to individuals who lived in or were associated with these fortified camps or settlements. As the Roman Empire expanded, the name spread to various regions, including parts of modern-day Britain, where it was likely introduced by Roman soldiers and settlers.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chester can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions several individuals with the name Chester, indicating its usage during the Norman period in English history.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Chester remained in use, particularly in England and other parts of the British Isles. It was often associated with individuals who lived in or near the city of Chester, which was founded as a Roman fortified settlement and played a significant role in English history.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Chester include Chester Nez (1915-2014), a Navajo code talker during World War II who played a crucial role in transmitting coded messages for the United States military. Another famous bearer of the name was Chester Greenough (1857-1923), an American educator and author who made significant contributions to the field of classical studies.
In the realm of literature, Chester Himes (1909-1984) was an influential African American writer known for his hard-boiled detective fiction and social commentary on race relations in America. Chester Gould (1900-1985) was the creator of the popular comic strip "Dick Tracy," which ran for over 50 years and became a cultural icon.
One cannot overlook Chester Arthur (1829-1886), the 21st President of the United States, who assumed office after the assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881. Despite initially being viewed as a compromise candidate, Arthur proved to be an effective leader and advocate for civil service reform during his tenure.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Chester, a moniker with deep roots in ancient Roman culture and a rich legacy spanning centuries across various fields and regions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Chester
People
Chester + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chester 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
Chester: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chester?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,929 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chester 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 9,037 US residents.
Is Chester a common name?
We classify Chester as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122,197 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chester most popular?
The single biggest year for Chester was 1920, when 3,726 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chester is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chester in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 35,871 people with the name Chester, or 11.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,130 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 Chester 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 Chester?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chester appears almost entirely male. Of the 35,868 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Chester?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chester is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.5%). 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 Chester most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chester in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (26,216 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 Chester in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chester a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Chester 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 Chester still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chester 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 Chester 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 the name Chester?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.