How common is the surname Chester?

15,066 people in the United States had the surname Chester in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 20,493 Americans. It ranked 2,408th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Chester?

James Chester, association football player, followed by Vanessa Lee Chester.

Where is the surname Chester most common?

Wikidata records people named Chester in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Chester?

Chester is /ˈt͡ʃɛ.stɚ/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Chester getting more or less common?

More common. 14,595 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 15,066 in 2010, up 3.2%.

Is Chester also a first name?

Yes. Chester is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Chester

An English place surname, carried by 15,066 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɛ.stɚ/ 2 syllables Soundex C236 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Chester is more common than 98.5% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Middle English Chestre, from Old English Ċeaster, from ċeaster (“a town or city, especially a Roman one”). The village in Nova Scotia is likely named after the city in Pennsylvania.

Chester is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 15,066 people named Chester in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 20,493 Americans. That is up 3.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 14,595.

#2,408

rank among US surnames

15,066

people in 2010

5.1

per 100,000 Americans

+3.2%

change since 2000 (was #2,281)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,399	Flint	15,123	20,416
#2,401	Wagoner	15,118	20,422
#2,402	Fajardo	15,100	20,447
#2,403	Briones	15,098	20,449
#2,404	Conn	15,089	20,462
#2,406	Armenta	15,078	20,477
#2,407	Dobbins	15,076	20,479

Who is named Chester

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

66% of people named Chester identified as white (not Hispanic), 27% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 66%
Black (not Hispanic) 27%
Two or more races 2.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Chesters

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

James Chester
Association football player, born 1989
Vanessa Lee Chester
American actress, born 1984
Craig Chester
American actor and screenwriter, born 1965
George Randolph Chester
American short story writer (1869–1924)
Nick Chester
British engineer, born 1969
Kira Kosarin
American actress and singer-songwriter (born 1997)

Notable Chesters come mostly from the United States (4) and the United Kingdom (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Chester

Chesterman

Chester has the Soundex code C236, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C236.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Chester come from?: From Middle English Chestre, from Old English Ċeaster, from ċeaster (“a town or city, especially a Roman one”). The village in Nova Scotia is likely named after the city in Pennsylvania.
How common is the surname Chester?: 15,066 people in the United States had the surname Chester in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 20,493 Americans. It ranked 2,408th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Chester?: In the 2010 Census, 66% of people named Chester identified as white (not Hispanic), and 27% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Chester?: James Chester, association football player, followed by Vanessa Lee Chester.
Where is the surname Chester most common?: Wikidata records people named Chester in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Chester?: Chester is /ˈt͡ʃɛ.stɚ/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Chester?: Chester is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Chester getting more or less common?: More common. 14,595 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 15,066 in 2010, up 3.2%.
Is Chester also a first name?: Yes. Chester is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.