Chester

Meaning of Chester

Chester derives from the Old English ceaster, itself a borrowing of the Latin castrum, “fortified camp,” and its semantic lineage situates the name among Britain’s Roman‐era place-names—most notably the cathedral city of Chester in Cheshire—so that it carries an implicit association with martial order and walled security. Adopted as a given name in the nineteenth century, it gained particular visibility in the United States through Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President, thereby acquiring a discreetly presidential resonance. Usage statistics reveal an early-twentieth-century apogee—peaking in 1880 with approximately 80 occurrences and a rank of 168—followed by a gradual attenuation that stabilized in the low-hundreds range during the mid- to late-twentieth century; contemporary data indicate a modest revival, with 102 newborns registered in 2024. This trajectory positions Chester within the “antique revival” subset of Anglo-American naming patterns, appealing to parents who value historical continuity, understated distinction, and an etymology anchored in classical fortitude rather than transient fashion.