Estel
Estel was last recorded in 2023, when 7 babies were given it; 2,841 Americans have been recorded with it between 1893 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Estel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Estel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #6,583, in 1981; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
107 babies in 1921, the peak
Estel peaked in 1921, when 107 babies were given it (87 boys, #695 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7 | #12,542 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 5 | #16,057 | under 5 | |
| 2015 | 6 | #15,087 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 5 | #17,360 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 5 | #6,583 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 6 | #5,744 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 5 | #6,359 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 6 | #5,349 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 6 | #5,002 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 7 | #4,314 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | under 5 | 7 | #4,212 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 8 | #3,740 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 6 | #4,403 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 5 | #4,600 | |
| 1968 | under 5 | 8 | #3,192 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 9 | #2,836 | |
| 1966 | 5 | #6,877 | 13 | #2,262 |
| 1965 | under 5 | 8 | #3,062 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 13 | #2,347 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 6 | #3,761 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 9 | #2,914 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 18 | #1,968 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 17 | #1,996 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 17 | #1,996 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 12 | #2,405 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 16 | #2,042 | |
| 1956 | under 5 | 21 | #1,737 | |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,121 | 12 | #2,339 |
| 1954 | under 5 | 20 | #1,721 | |
| 1953 | under 5 | 20 | #1,727 | |
| 1952 | under 5 | 16 | #1,963 | |
| 1951 | under 5 | 31 | #1,332 | |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,539 | 17 | #1,837 |
| 1949 | under 5 | 29 | #1,354 | |
| 1948 | under 5 | 26 | #1,436 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 34 | #1,261 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 23 | #1,484 | |
| 1945 | under 5 | 32 | #1,167 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 42 | #1,008 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 33 | #1,193 | |
| 1942 | under 5 | 32 | #1,233 | |
| 1941 | 6 | #4,103 | 30 | #1,215 |
| 1940 | 8 | #3,300 | 29 | #1,255 |
| 1939 | 7 | #3,549 | 43 | #960 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,588 | 23 | #1,405 |
| 1937 | under 5 | 50 | #874 | |
| 1936 | 7 | #3,475 | 34 | #1,126 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,412 | 26 | #1,336 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,481 | 61 | #794 |
| 1933 | 8 | #3,202 | 36 | #1,095 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,683 | 50 | #917 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,609 | 55 | #863 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,743 | 62 | #826 |
| 1929 | 6 | #4,231 | 70 | #767 |
| 1928 | under 5 | 65 | #814 | |
| 1927 | 18 | #2,122 | 56 | #915 |
| 1926 | 11 | #2,934 | 73 | #750 |
| 1925 | 18 | #2,135 | 62 | #847 |
| 1924 | 15 | #2,442 | 61 | #889 |
| 1923 | 17 | #2,202 | 72 | #780 |
| 1922 | 13 | #2,659 | 67 | #833 |
| 1921 | 20 | #2,002 | 87 | #695 |
| 1920 | 19 | #2,030 | 77 | #750 |
| 1919 | 18 | #2,010 | 69 | #779 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,308 | 71 | #775 |
| 1917 | 17 | #2,025 | 50 | #903 |
| 1916 | 23 | #1,603 | 56 | #836 |
| 1915 | 19 | #1,751 | 58 | #796 |
| 1914 | 11 | #2,165 | 41 | #842 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,212 | 41 | #724 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,752 | 38 | #695 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,483 | 18 | #766 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,227 | 15 | #793 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,832 | 14 | #771 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,221 | 9 | #972 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,694 | 11 | #833 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,609 | 14 | #653 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,581 | 14 | #644 |
| 1904 | 7 | #1,538 | 13 | #658 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,885 | 7 | #943 |
| 1902 | 7 | #1,494 | 7 | #964 |
| 1901 | 8 | #1,257 | 8 | #796 |
| 1900 | 5 | #2,025 | under 5 | |
| 1899 | under 5 | 7 | #885 | |
| 1898 | 9 | #1,198 | under 5 | |
| 1896 | under 5 | 7 | #925 | |
| 1895 | under 5 | 7 | #916 | |
| 1894 | under 5 | 7 | #889 | |
| 1893 | under 5 | 8 | #789 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Estel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,841 Americans recorded as Estel, 16% are girls and 84% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Estel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Estel, and how old are they?
An estimated 496 Americans named Estel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (17% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 years old and half are between 62 and 82. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 817 people named Estel (256 women and girls, 561 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 676 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Estel born?
The states with the most babies named Estel are Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, with 56% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kentucky and Tennessee and West Virginia are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 276 | not ranked | 4.2× |
| Tennessee | 182 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| West Virginia | 127 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Indiana | 121 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Missouri | 112 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Ohio | 99 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 37 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Virginia | 30 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Oklahoma | 18 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Arkansas | 16 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Estel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Estel is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 4.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Estel with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 5,122 babies since 1880, Estel is the most given (55% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Estel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Estel and names like it
- Compare Estel and EstillBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sEstel peaked in 1921.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Estel since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Estel.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Estel alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.