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Modesto

#9,428 in 2025Boys' name

Modest

Modesto has been given to 2,559 babies in the U.S. since 1908. In 2025 it ranked #9,428 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1927, with 37 recorded.

Babies named Modesto, 2025

1 in 414,000

Modesto over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Modesto: meaning, origin, and history

Modest

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Modesto means

Modesto means “modest”, associated with Modestus.

Origin, language, and formation

Modesto is used in Italian and Spanish.

Modesto comes through Latin Modestus.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Modesta.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Italian, Modesto is pronounced /moˈdɛs.to/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,559 boys were recorded with the name Modesto between 1908 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 37 in 1927; its best national rank was #1,180 in 1908.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,185 in 2020 to #9,428 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,860 in 2015 to #9,428 in 2025.

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 Modesto?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 213,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,428
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Modesto 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 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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Modesto. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Modestos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Modesto was born before 1969 — so the typical Modesto is around 56 today.

Median birth year
1969
About 56 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
11.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
14.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,756
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 11.5% of all recorded uses (295).

Is Modesto 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
−1,845
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,243
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,568
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.80×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
21.6%
Peak was 1927 (37)
Years since peak
98
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,180
1908

Where Modesto is used

Across 1910–2025, Modesto was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 16,667 boys, against 1 in 37,576 across all states with data. It was least common in Colorado (1 in —).

06 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 16,667
  2. 2New Mexico1 in 25,000
  3. 3California1 in 50,000
  4. 4New York1 in 100,000
  5. 5Colorado1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Modesto has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Modesto around the world

Where Modesto 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
    1924–1975
    #2,299
    in 1975
  • South Australia
    1963–1973
    #454
    in 1973

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Modesto

People whose public names include Modesto, 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.

Modesto in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Modesto. Linked forms have their own page here.

ModestModestasModestosModestusModestino

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Modesto by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,428
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,243
Best rank ever
#1,180
1908
Peak year
1927
37 that year
First recorded
1908
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,559
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Modesto

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

AugustoFaustoEvaristoCristoJustoChristoErnestoModouSistoErastoModiboCalistoModaserModellKristoHernestoModiTaistoCallistoHristoOrestoModieArnestoCasto

Names with a curve like Modesto

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

ConradoAnselmoFidencioFlorentinoDelfinoCiprianoEusebioCecilioCelestinoFlorencioCandelarioRosalio

Sibling names for Modesto

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 Modesto

Top names of 1927, Modesto's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1908Boys' names starting with M