How Many People Are Named Chess?
An estimated 16 people in the United States have the first name Chess. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 40 years old, and Chess peaked in popularity in 1953 with 8 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Chess as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Chess paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- Chess is exceptionally rare. Fewer than 100 people with this name are estimated to be alive in the U.S. today.
Estimated Living Americans
16
About 1 in 21,422,146 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Very Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
100.0% confidence
Average Age
40
years old
Peak Year
1953
8 births
Total Registered
29
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Chess
Chess is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 29 total births registered, 100.0% were male.
Chess as a male name
Ranked #12,385 in 2020
5 male births in 2020
Peak: 1953 (8 births)
Chess: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Chess span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 4 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1910s, when 11 babies were registered. While Chess is less common than at its peak in the 1910s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Chess by Decade
How has Chess tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Chess + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Chess as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Chess
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
Chess: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chess?
We estimate approximately 16 people named Chess are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 21,422,146 Americans share this first name.
Is Chess a common name?
Chess is classified as "Very Rare" and is more popular than 36.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 29 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Chess most popular?
Chess reached peak popularity in 1953, when 8 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Chess is approximately 40 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Chess a male name?
Chess is predominantly male. 100.0% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Chess Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Chess Smith, Chess Johnson, Chess Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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