Yester
A rare variant form of the name Hester, derived from Old Persian meaning "star".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Yester. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yester today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yester births was 2021 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yester. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yester. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2021
5 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,259
Tracked since 2021
Census
Yester in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 140 people with the first name Yester, which placed it at #47,034 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
#47,034
National first-name rank
People counted
140
140 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
52.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yester
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yester is Hispanic at 52.1%. The next largest groups are White (45.0%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Yester 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 Yester at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino52.1% · 73
- White45.0% · 63
- Black or African American2.9% · 4
Popularity
Yester: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Yester 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 Yester during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Yester
The given name Yester has its roots in the Old Germanic language, which was spoken by various tribes in Europe during the early Middle Ages. It is believed to have originated from the Proto-Germanic word "jēra," meaning "year" or "season." This suggests that the name may have been initially used to signify a child born during a particular time of the year or to commemorate a significant event or harvest.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yester can be found in the Codex Sangallensis, a 9th-century manuscript from the Abbey of Saint Gall in modern-day Switzerland. The manuscript contains a list of personal names, including Yester, which indicates that the name was in use among the Germanic tribes of that region during the early medieval period.
In the 11th century, the name Yester appears in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and their holdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in England. This record suggests that individuals with the name Yester were present in England during the Norman conquest and may have been of Germanic or Anglo-Saxon descent.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Yester. One such figure was Yester the Venerable, a 12th-century Benedictine monk and scholar from the Monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg, Austria. He is credited with writing several theological treatises and contributing to the intellectual discourse of his time.
Another prominent figure was Yester von Eppingen, a 14th-century German nobleman and military commander who served under the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. He played a significant role in the campaigns against the Hussites in Bohemia and was renowned for his strategic prowess.
In the 16th century, Yester Karelsson was a Finnish explorer and cartographer who accompanied the Danish-Norwegian explorer Jens Munk on an expedition to Hudson Bay in present-day Canada. His detailed maps and accounts of the region contributed greatly to the understanding of the Arctic territories at that time.
Moving forward to the 18th century, Yester Bredenberg was a Swedish botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plant life in Scandinavia. He is credited with discovering and cataloging numerous plant species, some of which bear his name in scientific nomenclature.
Finally, in the 19th century, Yester Grimfeldt was a Norwegian artist and sculptor known for his intricate woodcarvings and intricate depictions of Norse mythology and folklore. His works have been preserved in various museums and galleries, showcasing the rich cultural heritage of his homeland.
People
Yester + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yester as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yester: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yester?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yester 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Yester a common name?
We classify Yester as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yester most popular?
The single biggest year for Yester was 2021, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yester is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yester in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 140 people with the name Yester, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,034 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 Yester 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 Yester?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yester on both sides of the split. Of the 145 people counted with this name, 71 were male (49.0%) and 74 were female (51.0%). 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 Yester?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yester is Hispanic at 52.1%. The next largest groups are White (45.0%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Yester most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yester in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.1% (73 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 Yester in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yester a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yester 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 Yester still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yester 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 Yester 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 are called Yester?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.