# Hester (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/hester/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Persian |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɛstɚ/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Hesther |
| US babies named this | 14,764 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 537 / 14,227 (96% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 483, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From the Latin form of Esther.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 8 | 8,680 |
| 1989 | 10 | 7,636 |
| 1990 | 10 | 8,090 |
| 1991 | 8 | 9,647 |
| 1993 | 13 | 6,772 |
| 1994 | 7 | 10,982 |
| 1996 | 6 | 12,384 |
| 1998 | 5 | 14,999 |
| 2000 | 5 | 15,940 |
| 2004 | 5 | 17,083 |
| 2009 | 5 | 18,340 |
| 2010 | 5 | 18,002 |
| 2019 | 7 | 12,957 |
| 2023 | 5 | 16,080 |
| 2025 | 5 | 15,770 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1937 | 7 | 3,027 |
| 1938 | 14 | 1,931 |
| 1940 | 13 | 2,028 |
| 1941 | 8 | 2,753 |
| 1943 | 8 | 2,829 |
| 1944 | 9 | 2,536 |
| 1945 | 7 | 2,855 |
| 1946 | 7 | 3,016 |
| 1947 | 6 | 3,516 |
| 1949 | 11 | 2,395 |
| 1950 | 5 | 3,910 |
| 1953 | 6 | 3,590 |
| 1954 | 5 | 4,066 |
| 1955 | 6 | 3,672 |
| 1970 | 5 | 5,021 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 20 | 1,489 |
| 2012 | 26 | 1,253 |
| 2013 | 16 | 1,774 |
| 2014 | 20 | 1,501 |
| 2015 | 27 | 1,240 |
| 2016 | 17 | 1,749 |
| 2017 | 17 | 1,733 |
| 2018 | 18 | 1,649 |
| 2019 | 13 | 2,040 |
| 2020 | 16 | 1,773 |
| 2021 | 13 | 2,073 |
| 2022 | 8 | 2,888 |
| 2023 | 15 | 1,863 |
| 2024 | 10 | 2,574 |
| 2025 | 15 | 1,892 |

## People named Hester

- Hester Chapone, British writer
- Hester Jonas, German midwife and cunning woman (c. 1570 – 1635)
- Hester Ford, American supercentenarian

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.