How Many People Are Named Esther?
An estimated 94,041 people in the United States have the first name Esther. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 42 years old, and Esther peaked in popularity in 1918 with 6,588 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Esther 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 Esther paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Esther is overwhelmingly female, 967 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
94,041
About 1 in 3,645 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.6% confidence
Average Age
42
years old
Peak Year
1918
6,588 births
Total Registered
269,879
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Esther
Esther is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 269,879 total births registered, 99.6% were female.
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)
Esther: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Esther span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 49,420 babies were registered. Esther has declined significantly from its peak in the 1920s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Esther by Decade
How has Esther 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.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,476 | 0 | 3,476 | |
| 1890s | 14,796 | 59 | 14,737 | |
| 1900s | 20,097 | 71 | 20,026 | |
| 1910s | 49,367 | 155 | 49,212 | |
| 1920s | 49,420 | 190 | 49,230 | |
| 1930s | 25,987 | 196 | 25,791 | |
| 1940s | 17,731 | 92 | 17,639 | |
| 1950s | 15,808 | 42 | 15,766 | |
| 1960s | 10,139 | 28 | 10,111 | |
| 1970s | 7,315 | 19 | 7,296 | |
| 1980s | 8,882 | 65 | 8,817 | |
| 1990s | 9,445 | 32 | 9,413 | |
| 2000s | 11,476 | 0 | 11,476 | |
| 2010s | 15,941 | 13 | 15,928 | |
| 2020s | 9,999 | 5 | 9,994 | |
Esther by State
Birth registrations for Esther span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, Pennsylvania, California. The lowest are in Nevada, Delaware, Alaska. On average, about 4,467 Esthers were registered per state.
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.
Names Similar to Esther
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
Esther: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Esther?
We estimate approximately 94,041 people named Esther 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 3,645 Americans share this first name.
Is Esther a common name?
Esther is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 269,879 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Esther most popular?
Esther reached peak popularity in 1918, when 6,588 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Esther is approximately 42 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Esther a female name?
Esther is predominantly female. 99.6% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Esther Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Esther Smith, Esther Johnson, Esther 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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