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    The surname Lester

    A place surname, carried by 44,784 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈlɛstɚ/ 2 syllables Soundex L236 Also a first name

    Lester: #768 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Lester #768, 44,784 people Lester: #768 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Lester #768, 44,784 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lester is more common than 99.5% of them.

    Origin

    * As an English surname, from the placename Leicester. * Also as an English surname of Norman origin, from Lestre in Normandy, from Old French Lestra, from Medieval Latin Laxtra, perhaps from extera (“exterior (part of a property)”). * As an English and Scottish surname, variant of Lister. * Also as an English surname, variant of Laster. * As a Scottish and Irish surname, shortened from McLester.

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

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 44,784 people named Lester in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 6,894 Americans. That is up 2.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 43,919.

    #768
    rank among US surnames
    44,784
    people in 2010
    15
    per 100,000 Americans
    +2%
    change since 2000 (was #709)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #759Salgado45,4696,790
    #760Strong45,4326,796
    #761Kline45,3906,802
    #762Cordova45,3056,815
    #763Barajas45,1536,838
    #764Roach45,0196,858
    #765Rosas44,9386,870

    Who is named Lester

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

    76% of people named Lester identified as white (not Hispanic), 19% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 76%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 19%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
    • Two or more races 1.8%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 1.2%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Lesters

    17 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Richard Lester
      American film director, born 1932
    • Mark Lester
      British actor, born 1958
    • Tom Lester
      American actor and evangelist (1938-2020)
    • Adrian Lester
      British actor, director, and writer, born 1968
    • Ketty Lester
      American actress, recording artist, born 1934
    • Mark L. Lester
      American film director (born 1946)
    • Jon Lester
      American professional baseball pitcher (born 1984)
    • Ron Lester
      American actor, 1970–2016
    • Buddy Lester
      American comedian and actor (1917–2002)
    • Loren Lester
      American actor (born 1960)
    • Julia Lester
      American actress, born 1999
    • Ronnie Lester
      American basketball player (born 1959)

    Notable Lesters come mostly from the United States (14), the United Kingdom (2) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Lester

    Lester has the Soundex code L236, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L236.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Lester come from?
    * As an English surname, from the placename Leicester. * Also as an English surname of Norman origin, from Lestre in Normandy, from Old French Lestra, from Medieval Latin Laxtra, perhaps from extera (“exterior (part of a property)”). * As an English and Scottish surname, variant of Lister. * Also…
    How common is the surname Lester?
    44,784 people in the United States had the surname Lester in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 6,894 Americans. It ranked 768th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Lester?
    In the 2010 Census, 76% of people named Lester identified as white (not Hispanic), and 19% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Lester?
    Richard Lester, American film director, followed by Mark Lester.
    Where is the surname Lester most common?
    Wikidata records people named Lester in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
    How do you pronounce Lester?
    Lester is /ˈlɛstɚ/, 2 syllables.
    What type of surname is Lester?
    Lester is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Lester getting more or less common?
    More common. 43,919 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 44,784 in 2010, up 2.0%.
    Is Lester also a first name?
    Yes. Lester 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.