Modeste

Girls' name

Moderate, calm, restrained, mild

Modeste has been given to 8 babies in the U.S. since 1890. 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 1890, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Modeste, 1890

1 in 37,700

Modeste over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Modeste: meaning, origin, and history

Moderate, calm, restrained, mild

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Modeste means

Modeste means “moderate, calm, restrained, mild”, associated with modestus.

Origin, language, and formation

Modeste is used in Norman.

Modeste comes through Latin Modesta.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Modestus.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 8 girls were recorded with the name Modeste between 1890 and 1890. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1890; its best national rank was #1,069 in 1890.

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 Modeste?

Modeste had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1890, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1890: 1 in 37,700; 8 of 301,389 births
Among girls only: 1 in 23,800; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1890: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 26,115 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Modeste 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 1890 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 26,115 children born in 1890 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Modeste. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Modestes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Modeste was born before 1890 — so the typical Modeste is around 135 today.

Median birth year: 1890; About 135 years old
Biggest decade: 1890s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1890s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (8).

Is Modeste 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 1890 (8)
Years since peak: 135; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #1,069; 1890

Spellings of Modeste

Modeste is not the most common spelling — Odette is, with 54.5% against Modeste's 0.10%.

Odette54.5%4,239
Modesta20.8%1,615
Monette17.2%1,335
Modesty7.5%583
Modeste0.10%8

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.

Modeste around the world

Where Modeste 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.

France
1900–1972
#1,904
in 1972

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Modeste by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,069; 1890
Peak year: 1890; 8 that year
First recorded: 1890
Last recorded: 1890
All-time count: 8
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Modeste

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

Modesti Modenia Modesire Honeste Saleste Syleste Namaste Kryste Modelle Celleste Triste Cleste Auguste Modupe Modest Trieste Modesty Modie Modupeoluwa Modine Modell Modene Miste Este

Sibling names for Modeste

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

Bess Hulda Lulu Meta Maud Maude Golda Lauretta

For a brother

Will Grover Garfield Dewey Gustave Waldo Orrin Winfield

Explore around Modeste

Top names of 1890, Modeste's peak year The 1890s in full Other names that peaked in 1890 Girls' names starting with M Norman Girl Names