Nestor
A Greek masculine name meaning "homecoming" or "the one who returns safely".
Name Census estimates that about 9,171 living Americans carry the first name Nestor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nestor today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nestor births was 1991 (300 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nestor. 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 Nestor with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.2K
~ 1 in 37,374 Americans
Peak year
1991
300 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,715
Tracked since 1885
Census
Nestor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 21,162 people with the first name Nestor, which placed it at #1,547 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
#1,547
National first-name rank
People counted
21K
21,162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
84.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nestor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nestor is Hispanic at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and White (3.1%). 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 Nestor 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 Nestor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino84.7% · 17,923
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.9% · 2,316
- White3.1% · 655
- Black or African American0.9% · 201
- Two or more races0.2% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 21
Popularity
Nestor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nestor from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,587 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nestor 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 Nestor during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nestors live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Nestor, while South Carolina, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 296 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nestor
The given name Nestor is of Greek origin, derived from the ancient Greek word "nestōr," which means "he who returns home." It is believed to have originated around the 8th century BC in ancient Greece. The name is associated with Nestor, a wise and skilled orator from Homer's Iliad, who was known for his eloquence and advice to the younger generation.
In Greek mythology, Nestor was the son of Neleus and Chloris, and he was one of the Argonauts who accompanied Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. He was also one of the oldest and most respected leaders in the Trojan War, known for his wisdom, experience, and ability to provide counsel to the younger warriors.
The earliest recorded use of the name Nestor can be traced back to ancient Greek literature and historical records. It was a popular name among the ancient Greeks, particularly in the regions of the Peloponnese and Ionia.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Nestor. One of the earliest was Nestor of Laranda (c. 420 BC), a Greek philosopher and mathematician known for his work on conic sections. Another was Nestor the Chronicler (c. 1056-1114), a Russian monk and author of the Primary Chronicle, which is considered one of the most important sources for early Russian history.
In the 17th century, Nestor Denis (1642-1708) was a French missionary and explorer who traveled to Canada and documented the indigenous cultures of North America. Nestor Makhno (1888-1934) was a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary who led an anarchist insurgency against various military forces during the Russian Civil War.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Nestor was Nestor Pilt (1912-1975), an Estonian chess player and International Grandmaster. He was one of the strongest players in the world during the mid-20th century and won several prestigious tournaments, including the USSR Chess Championship in 1953.
People
Nestor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nestor as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nestor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nestor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,171 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nestor 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 37,374 US residents.
Is Nestor a common name?
We classify Nestor as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,317 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nestor most popular?
The single biggest year for Nestor was 1991, when 300 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nestor is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nestor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 21,162 people with the name Nestor, or 7.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,547 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 Nestor 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 Nestor?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nestor appears almost entirely male. Of the 21,159 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Nestor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nestor is Hispanic at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and White (3.1%). 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 Nestor most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Nestor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.7% (17,923 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 Nestor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nestor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nestor 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 Nestor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nestor 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 Nestor 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 Nestor?
See how many people have the name Nestor on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.