Esther
Esther is ranked 131st among girls in 2024 (2,206 births). Its best rank was 27th, in 1896.
- Rank in 2024
- #131up 7 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 2,2060.14% of girls
- Peak year
- 19186,574 births
- Best rank
- #27in 1896
- Since 1880
- 268,912people given the name
The story in the numbers
268,912 girls have been named Esther in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1918, with 6,574 births — 0.57% of all girls recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 200 → 131).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1929, and the 1920s alone account for 18%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 54 of them in the top 100.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Esther | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,476 | |
| 1890s | 14,737 | |
| 1900s | 20,026 | |
| 1910s | 49,212 | |
| 1920s | 49,230 | |
| 1930s | 25,791 | |
| 1940s | 17,639 | |
| 1950s | 15,766 | |
| 1960s | 10,111 | |
| 1970s | 7,296 | |
| 1980s | 8,817 | |
| 1990s | 9,413 | |
| 2000s | 11,476 | |
| 2010s | 15,928 | |
| 2020s | 9,994 |
In 1918, its biggest year
Esther was the 38th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1918 were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1918.
Names that rose and fell with Esther
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Hildapeak 1921
- Verdapeak 1918
- Margueritepeak 1918
- Izettapeak 1924
- Mariepeak 1920
- Nevapeak 1920
- Verapeak 1918
- Cecilepeak 1918
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.