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Chesney

#2,785 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Possibly oak

Chesney has been given to 2,821 babies in the U.S. since 1970. In 2025 it ranked #2,785 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2005, with 131 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 94% girls, 6% boys all-time.

Babies named Chesney, 2025

1 in 54,300

Chesney over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Chesney over time

In 2025, Chesney went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19702025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Chesney: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly oak

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Chesney means

Chesney may mean “oak”, associated with kassanos.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Norman place names meaning “oak grove” (cognate to French chênaie), from Picard quesne, from Vulgar Latin *cassanus, probably from Gaulish kassanos (“oak”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Chesney (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Chesney is used in English.

Chesney comes through Vulgar Latin *cassanus and Gaulish kassanos.

Chesney is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,664 girls were recorded with the name Chesney between 1970 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 131 in 2005; its best national rank was #1,555 in 2005.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,691 in 2020 to #2,785 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,627 in 2015 to #2,785 in 2025.

In the United States, 157 boys were recorded with the name Chesney between 1990 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 15 in 2004; its best national rank was #5,291 in 2004.

How common is Chesney?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 54,300
61 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 26,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,785
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
37,672 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Chesney sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 37,672 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Chesney. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Chesneys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Chesney was born before 2008 — so the typical Chesney is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
34.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
76.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,664
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 34.5% of all recorded uses (920).

Is Chesney rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+196
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−94
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−158
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.90×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
46.6%
Peak was 2005 (131)
Years since peak
20
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,555
2005

Spellings of Chesney

Chesney is not the most common spelling — Chelsey is, with 85.2% against Chesney's 7.2%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Chesney is used

Across 2016–2025, Chesney was most concentrated in Missouri — about 1 in 10,000 girls, against 1 in 31,761 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

110 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Missouri1 in 10,000
  2. 2Tennessee1 in 20,000
  3. 3Virginia1 in 20,000
  4. 4Texas1 in 25,000
  5. 5Georgia1 in 33,333
  6. 6Kentucky1 in 33,333
  7. 7North Carolina1 in 33,333
  8. 8Oklahoma1 in 33,333

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Chesney around the world

Where Chesney ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2003
    #4,373
    in 2003
  • Canada
    2012–2015
    #2,823
    in 2015

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Chesney

People whose public names include Chesney, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Chesney by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,785
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 94
Best rank ever
#1,555
2005
Peak year
2005
131 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,664
Count in 2025
61

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,291
2004
Peak year
2004
15 that year
First recorded
1990
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
157
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Chesney

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ChezneyCheyannCherokeeCheneyCherilynChelsyChevelleChelsiChenoaCheryllVianneyCherishCherlynTierneyChelsieCherrylChelseeCherrieCheriseDaphneyCheryleCheyneyChericeCherita

Names with a curve like Chesney

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Chesney, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

ElliAniKyrahViktoriaKamariaAleksandraOlyviaCianaJoseyCholeAnayeliJanelly

Sibling names for Chesney

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Chesney

Top names of 2005, Chesney's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2005Girls' names starting with C