Dester
UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Dester has been given to 28 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1935, with 6 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 57% girls, 43% boys all-time.
Babies named Dester, 1935
1 in 348,000
Dester over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Dester over time
In 1955, Dester went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
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.
How common is Dester?
Dester had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1935, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 1935
- 1 in 348,000
- 6 of 2,089,888 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 175,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 1935
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 241,434 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Dester sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 1935 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 241,434 children born in 1935 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dester. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Desters were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Dester was born before 1926 — so the typical Dester is around 99 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1930s
- 37.5% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 100.0%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 0
- People you could plausibly meet
1930s — 37.5% of all recorded uses (6).
Is Dester 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
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1935 (6)
- Years since peak
- 90
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Not enough data
- Too few years
Spellings of Dester
Dester is not the most common spelling — Esther is, with 84.3% against Dester's <0.01%.
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.
Dester by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Dester
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Dester
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.