Lester

Where Lester comes from

* As an English surname, from the placename Leicester. * Also as an English surname of Norman origin, from Lestre in Normandy, from Old French Lestra, from Medieval Latin Laxtra, perhaps from extera (“exterior (part of a property)”). * As an English and Scottish surname, variant of Lister. * Also as an English surname, variant of Laster. * As a Scottish and Irish surname, shortened from McLester.
— Wiktionary's entry for Lester
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #121 among boys — 109 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1897
    Lester B. Pearson born
    14th Prime Minister of Canada, from 1963 to 1968
  3. 1906
    Peak, #52
    482 babies named Lester — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1909
    Lester Young born
    American jazz saxophonist
  5. 1994
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #728.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th century and later usage.
Namesakes
  • Lester B. Pearson · 14th Prime Minister of Canada, from 1963 to 1968, 1897–1972
  • Lester Young · American jazz saxophonist, 1909–1959
  • Lester del Rey · American science fiction author, 1915–1993
  • Lester Bird · Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, 1938–2021
  • Lester Germer · American physicist, 1896–1971

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.