Lester
An English surname from the city of Leicester, whose name joins an Old English tribal name with the Latin castra, meaning camp.
Lester in 2025
Lester was given to 103 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 3,480th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 32,188 babies born.
The history of Lester
Lester reached its highest point in 1918, when 3,265 babies were given the name, ranking 145th that year. Its best-ever ranking was 130th, in 1915.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 132,047 babies have been named Lester. Half of them were born before 1934, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Silent Generation.
Lester by decade
| Decade | Babies named Lester | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,451 | 231 |
| 1890s | 2,762 | 206 |
| 1900s | 4,465 | 183 |
| 1910s | 21,732 | 130 |
| 1920s | 26,842 | 159 |
| 1930s | 17,164 | 218 |
| 1940s | 17,230 | 268 |
| 1950s | 16,715 | 314 |
| 1960s | 9,835 | 453 |
| 1970s | 5,156 | 649 |
| 1980s | 3,587 | 819 |
| 1990s | 2,080 | 1,311 |
| 2000s | 1,373 | 2,310 |
| 2010s | 1,045 | 3,010 |
| 2020s | 610 | 3,304 |
Where Lester is heading
Lester has held roughly steady over the past decade, from 104 babies in 2015 to 103 in 2025.
That is less than 5% of its 1918 peak — Lester is now a rare name in the United States.
Names like Lester
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Lester.