Chester

What Chester means

Means “a town or city, especially a Roman one”

From Middle English Chestre, from Old English Ċeaster, from ċeaster (“a town or city, especially a Roman one”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Chester” (revision 93429304), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Chester?

US: Steady: #1625 in 2015, #1585 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #231 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1918, when 3,692 boys got the name (#54 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 15,963 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 701 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 2,806 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in WI (0.43 per 1,000 boys), PA (0.17 per 1,000 boys), OH (0.13 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Chester is #1585 in the US and #128 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Chester were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Chester

Boys

• Russell#345Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1960, with 7,487 babies; 944 in 2025
• Wayne#652“wagon”^*
• Leroy#883“the king”^*
• Jay#392“victory”^*
• Stanley#863“stone + meadow”^*
• Casey#320“descendant of (a person named) Watchful”^*

For a sister

• Holly#416“wood, clearing, meadow”^*
• Lacey#738Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 2,399 babies; 370 in 2025
• Tiffany#878Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1988, with 18,364 babies; 304 in 2025
• Kelsey#814Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #343 in 2015, #814 in 2025
• Kelly#851Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 18,234 babies; 319 in 2025
• Ashley#164“ash tree + wood, clearing”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Chester’s. Rank is US 2025.