Chez
A French word meaning "home" or "at the house of".
Name Census estimates that about 135 living Americans carry the first name Chez. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Chez today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chez births was 1982 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chez. 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.
People living today
135
~ 1 in 2,538,921 Americans
Peak year
1982
22 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2019 SSA rank
#8,910
Tracked since 1970
Census
Chez in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 283 people with the first name Chez, which placed it at #30,644 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
#30,644
National first-name rank
People counted
283
283 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
45.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chez
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chez is Black at 45.9%. The next largest groups are White (28.6%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Chez 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 Chez at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American45.9% · 130
- White28.6% · 81
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 35
- Two or more races6.4% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Chez
Chez leans heavily male at 80.9% of total registrations, but 27 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Chez as a male name
- Ranked #12,500 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1982 (15 births)
Chez as a female name
- Ranked #8,910 in 1989
- 8 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chez on both sides of the split. Of the 292 people counted with this name, 184 were male (63.0%) and 108 were female (37.0%).
Popularity
Chez: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chez from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 93 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chez 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 Chez 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 Chez
The name Chez finds its origins in the French language, dating back to the late 15th century. It is believed to be derived from the Old French word "chez," which means "at the house of" or "with." The name was initially used as a preposition or locative term, indicating a place or location.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chez can be found in the French literary work "Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles" (The Hundred New Tales), a collection of short stories published in the late 15th century. In this work, the name appears as a reference to a specific location or residence.
Throughout history, the name Chez has been associated with several notable individuals. One such person was Chez Panisse, an American chef and restaurateur born in 1944. She founded the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California, which played a pivotal role in the California cuisine movement and popularized the use of locally sourced, seasonal ingredients.
Another prominent figure with the name Chez was Chez Quis, a French artist and sculptor who lived from 1801 to 1884. Quis is renowned for his intricate wood carvings and sculptures, many of which can be found in various museums and galleries across Europe.
In the realm of literature, Chez Edmond Rostand was a French playwright and poet who lived from 1868 to 1918. He is best known for his play "Cyrano de Bergerac," a timeless classic that has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times.
The name Chez also had a presence in the world of music. Chez Baker was an American jazz trumpeter and singer who lived from 1929 to 1988. He was a prominent figure in the West Coast jazz scene and is considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century.
Lastly, Chez Guevara was a Cuban revolutionary and guerrilla leader who played a pivotal role in the Cuban Revolution alongside Fidel Castro. He lived from 1928 to 1967 and remains an iconic figure in Latin American history and the global revolutionary movement.
While the name Chez may not be as common today, it holds a rich historical significance and has been associated with notable figures across various fields, from culinary arts and literature to music and revolutionary movements.
People
Chez + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chez 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
Chez: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chez?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chez 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 2,538,921 US residents.
Is Chez a common name?
We classify Chez as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 141 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chez most popular?
The single biggest year for Chez was 1982, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chez is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chez in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 283 people with the name Chez, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,644 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 Chez 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 Chez?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chez on both sides of the split. Of the 292 people counted with this name, 184 were male (63.0%) and 108 were female (37.0%). 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 Chez?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chez is Black at 45.9%. The next largest groups are White (28.6%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Chez most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Chez in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.9% (130 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 Chez in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chez a male name?
Yes, 80.9% of people registered as Chez 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 Chez still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chez 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 Chez 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 Chez as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.