Estelle
Star of brilliance or resplendence; from the Latin stella meaning "star".
Name Census estimates that about 12,049 living Americans carry the first name Estelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Estelle today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Estelle births was 1915 (1,793 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Estelle. 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 Estelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Estelle is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 159 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,447 Americans
Peak year
1915
1,793 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1943 SSA rank
#636
Tracked since 1880
Census
Estelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,988 people with the first name Estelle, which placed it at #1,979 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
#1,979
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,988 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Estelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Estelle is White at 66.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.8%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Estelle 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 Estelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.6% · 9,323
- Black or African American17.8% · 2,484
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 1,030
- Two or more races4.0% · 563
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 469
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 119
Gender
Gender distribution for Estelle
Out of the 56,046 babies given the name Estelle since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Estelle as a male name
- Ranked #3,697 in 1943
- 5 male births in 1943
- Peak: 1918 (13 births)
Estelle as a female name
- Ranked #636 in 2024
- 462 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1915 (1,784 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Estelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,982 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Estelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Estelle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 13,867 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Estelle 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 Estelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Estelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Estelle, while Montana, Vermont, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 929 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Estelle
The name Estelle has its origins in the French language, derived from the Latin word "stella" meaning "star." This name became popular during the Middle Ages, particularly in France and regions influenced by French culture.
The earliest recorded use of the name Estelle dates back to the 12th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Estelle de Montanmart, a French noblewoman who lived during the 12th century. She was known for her charitable works and patronage of the arts.
In the 13th century, the name Estelle gained popularity among royalty and nobility. Estelle de Courtenay, a French princess who lived from 1241 to 1290, was a prominent figure during the Crusades. She married Humphrey de Bohun, an English nobleman, and played a significant role in the political affairs of the time.
The name Estelle also appeared in literary works, such as the 16th-century French epic poem "La Franciade" by Pierre de Ronsard, where a character named Estelle was featured. This helped to further popularize the name among the French nobility and upper classes.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Estelle. One of the most famous was Estelle Ries, a French activist and feminist who lived from 1909 to 1995. She was a prominent figure in the women's rights movement and fought for gender equality.
Another notable Estelle was Estelle Getty, an American actress born in 1923 and best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the sitcom "The Golden Girls." She won numerous awards, including an Emmy, for her portrayal of the witty and sarcastic character.
Estelle Liebling, an American opera singer who lived from 1880 to 1970, was also a prominent figure in the world of classical music. She was known for her powerful soprano voice and performances in operas by composers such as Wagner and Verdi.
Estelle Massey Osborne, born in 1901, was an American writer and journalist. She gained recognition for her novel "Bright Cameo," which explored themes of race and identity in the American South during the early 20th century.
Estelle Parsons, born in 1927, is an American actress and theatre director. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1967 film "Bonnie and Clyde." She has also had a successful career on stage, appearing in numerous Broadway productions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Estelle
People
Estelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Estelle 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
Estelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Estelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,049 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Estelle 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 28,447 US residents.
Is Estelle a common name?
We classify Estelle as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 56,046 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Estelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Estelle was 1915, when 1,793 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Estelle is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Estelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,988 people with the name Estelle, or 4.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,979 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 Estelle 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 Estelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Estelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,982 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Estelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Estelle is White at 66.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.8%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Estelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Estelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.6% (9,323 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 Estelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Estelle a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Estelle in the SSA data are female. 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 Estelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Estelle 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 Estelle 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 common is the name Estelle?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.