Escher
A Dutch masculine name derived from Jasper, meaning "treasure keeper".
Name Census estimates that about 332 living Americans carry the first name Escher. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Escher today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Escher births was 2014 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Escher. 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 Escher with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
332
~ 1 in 1,032,393 Americans
Peak year
2014
31 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,499
Tracked since 1999
Popularity
Escher: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Escher from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 206 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Escher remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Escher 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 Escher during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eschers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Escher
The given name Escher originates from the Middle High German word "eschere," which means "ash tree." This name has its roots in the Germanic languages and was initially used as a surname derived from the profession of an ash wood worker or a location associated with ash trees.
Escher gained popularity as a first name during the Middle Ages in the regions of present-day Germany and Switzerland. The name's earliest recorded use as a personal name dates back to the 13th century, when it appeared in historical records from the Holy Roman Empire.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Escher was a German knight named Escher von Rappoltstein, who lived in the late 13th century and served under the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I. Another notable figure from the same era was Escher von Zürich, a Swiss merchant and diplomat active in the 14th century.
In the 15th century, Escher von der Leyen was a prominent German nobleman and military leader who fought in the Hussite Wars. Around the same time, Escher von Berg was a Swiss architect and builder who contributed to the construction of several notable buildings in the city of Zürich.
During the Renaissance period, the name Escher gained further recognition with the Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, born in 1898. He is renowned for his mind-bending woodcuts, lithographs, and drawings featuring intricate mathematical patterns and impossible architectural structures.
Other notable individuals with the name Escher include Escher von Steinau, a 17th-century German jurist and legal scholar, and Escher von Siebeneich, an 18th-century Austrian military officer who served in the Austro-Turkish War. In the 19th century, Escher von Göpfrich was a German painter and illustrator known for his landscapes and portraits.
While the name Escher has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has also been used, albeit less commonly, in other cultures and regions. For instance, there are records of individuals named Escher in parts of Eastern Europe and even in certain areas of South America, likely due to migration and cultural exchanges over the centuries.
People
Escher + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Escher as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Escher: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Escher?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 332 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Escher 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 1,032,393 US residents.
Is Escher a common name?
We classify Escher as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 335 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Escher most popular?
The single biggest year for Escher was 2014, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Escher is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Escher in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Escher a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Escher 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 Escher still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Escher 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 Escher 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Escher?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.