Esther
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "star" or "planet Venus".
Name Census estimates that about 94,041 living Americans carry the first name Esther. It sits at #131 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Esther today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Esther births was 1918 (6,588 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Esther. 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 Esther with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Esther is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 967 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
94K
~ 1 in 3,645 Americans
Peak year
1918
6,588 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2020 SSA rank
#131
Tracked since 1880
Census
Esther in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 131,095 people with the first name Esther, which placed it at #432 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
#432
National first-name rank
People counted
131K
131,095 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
43.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Esther
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esther is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.5%) and Black (13.3%). 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 Esther 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 Esther at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.1% · 59,130
- Hispanic or Latino30.5% · 39,973
- Black or African American13.3% · 17,392
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.8% · 11,499
- Two or more races1.7% · 2,268
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 833
Gender
Gender distribution for Esther
Out of the 269,879 babies given the name Esther since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Esther as a male name
- Ranked #12,622 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1928 (29 births)
Esther as a female name
- Ranked #131 in 2024
- 2,206 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (6,574 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Esther appears almost entirely female. Of the 131,090 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Esther: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Esther 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 49,420 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
Esther 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 Esther during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Esthers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Esther, while Nevada, Delaware, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,467 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Esther
The name Esther is derived from the Persian word "Ester" which means "star". It has its origins in the ancient Persian Empire, dating back to around the 5th century BCE. The name gained widespread recognition and popularity through the biblical Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Book of Esther tells the story of a Jewish woman named Esther who became the queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus. She played a crucial role in saving the Jewish people from persecution by the king's prime minister, Haman. This biblical account is celebrated during the Jewish festival of Purim, and the name Esther is closely associated with this important religious event.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Esther is found in the Hebrew Bible, where it is mentioned in the Book of Esther, thought to have been written between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. The name also appears in other ancient texts, such as the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Latin Vulgate.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Esther. One of the most famous was Esther Shechter (1924-2007), an Israeli poet and author who wrote extensively about the Holocaust and her experiences as a survivor. Another prominent figure was Esther Phillips (1935-1984), an American singer and actress known for her powerful vocals and contributions to the blues and jazz genres.
Other notable individuals named Esther include:
1. Esther Pauline Friedman (1918-2002), better known as Ann Landers, an American advice columnist and author.
2. Esther Rolle (1920-1998), an American actress best known for her role as Florida Evans on the sitcom "Good Times".
3. Esther Vilar (1935-), a German author and polemicist known for her controversial views on gender roles.
4. Esther Hobart Morris (1814-1902), an American judge who was appointed as the first female justice of the peace in the United States.
5. Esther Malamud (1916-2012), a Russian-American author and translator who played a significant role in introducing Soviet literature to the West.
The name Esther has been consistently popular throughout history, transcending cultural and religious boundaries. Its rich historical significance and association with the biblical figure have contributed to its enduring appeal.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Esther
People
Esther + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Esther 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
Esther: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Esther?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 94,041 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Esther 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 3,645 US residents.
Is Esther a common name?
We classify Esther as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 269,879 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Esther most popular?
The single biggest year for Esther was 1918, when 6,588 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Esther 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 Esther in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 131,095 people with the name Esther, or 43.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #432 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 Esther 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 Esther?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Esther appears almost entirely female. Of the 131,090 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Esther?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esther is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.5%) and Black (13.3%). 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 Esther most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Esther in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.1% (59,130 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 Esther in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Esther a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Esther 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 Esther still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Esther 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 Esther 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 Esther?
See how many people share the name Esther on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.