Kester

Boys' name

Carrier of Christ, through Christopher

Kester has been given to 335 babies in the U.S. since 1913. 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 1915, with 17 recorded.

Babies named Kester, 2018

1 in 502,000

Kester over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kester: meaning, origin, and history

Carrier of Christ, through Christopher

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kester means

Kester belongs to the name family reached through Kester → Christopher. Its meaning is “carrier of Christ”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kester is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Christopher.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 335 boys were recorded with the name Kester between 1913 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 17 in 1915; its best national rank was #1,745 in 1915.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kester?

Kester had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018: 1 in 502,000; 7 of 3,516,853 births
Among boys only: 1 in 259,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2018: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 348,244 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Kester sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2018 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 348,244 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kester. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kesters were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kester was born before 1944 — so the typical Kester is around 81 today.

Median birth year: 1944; About 81 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 18.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 12.5%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 131; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 18.5% of all recorded uses (62).

Is Kester 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 1915 (17)
Years since peak: 110; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 21.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,745; 1915

Spellings of Kester

Kester is not the most common spelling — Peter is, with 60.8% against Kester's 0.03%.

Peter60.8%589,588
Lester13.5%130,688
Chester12.5%121,474
Dexter3.8%36,582
Karter3.0%29,465
Foster1.4%13,122
Nestor1.1%10,430
Buster0.84%8,173

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.

Kester around the world

Where Kester 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
1996–2025
#3,684
in 2025
South Australia
1976–2010
#754
in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kester by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,745; 1915
Peak year: 1915; 17 that year
First recorded: 1913
Last recorded: 2018
All-time count: 335
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Kester

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

Kesler Keshun Keston Kessler Kesean Keshon Gunter Keshav Wynter Master Sutter Kutter Daxter Mister Aster Kessiah Alter Pieter Winter Kharter Slayter Jupiter Kestyn Keshaun

Sibling names for Kester

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

For a sister

Golda Lauretta Era Leatha Leone Mayme Artie Alpha

For a brother

Gustave Waldo Orrin Winfield Dorsey Isadore Aloysius Hyman

Explore around Kester

Top names of 1915, Kester's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1915 Boys' names starting with K Christopher Variations & Nicknames