Lestat
Masculine
Lestat is an invented name with a known author and an unusually candid origin story. Anne Rice created the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt for Interview with the Vampire in 1976, and she said afterwards that she had meant to write Lestan, a name from her husband's family, and got it wrong. The mistake stood. Its American peak is 2004.
How old is the name Lestat?
Lestat first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Lestat alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 500 people named Lestat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lestat most popular?
Lestat peaked in 2004, reaching #2887 nationally. Today it ranks #6143, 3,256 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Lestan to Lestat
Our story of Lestat
Lestat is a good demonstration of how fast a fictional name can become a real one. Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976 and Lestat was a supporting figure; The Vampire Lestat in 1985 made him the narrator and the center of the series, which eventually ran to more than a dozen books. The 1994 film brought him to a much larger audience. American birth records for the name are essentially empty before the 1990s and rise afterwards, peaking in 2004. That is a twenty-eight-year lag from creation to peak, which is long for a fictional name and reflects how much the character grew over the sequence. It also means a Lestat born in 2004 was named for a figure his parents had followed through a quarter-century of books.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is no word behind it. The name was invented for a novel in the 1970s, and the author's own account is that it was a mistaken rendering of Lestan, a name in her husband Stan Rice's family. Lestan itself has no established etymology. So the name is an error made permanent by publication, which is rare and unusually well documented — most invented names have no author on record at all.
How the name formed
- Lestan
- Lestat
Pronouncing Lestat
luh-STAT
Two syllables, stress at the end. The author's own pronunciation sounds the final t, though the French-looking spelling invites some readers to silence it. The sounded t is standard.
Nicknames for Lestat
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1995
- Most boys named
- 201037 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2887reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- +55.6%14 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Lestat in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Lestats among us
people named Lestat are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 122,005 born in 2025 was named Lestat
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Astin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lestat's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Astin climbed just as high around 1986, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Astin's path sketches the road Lestat is walking now.
Lestat sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Lestat beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lestat in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Its origin is documented down to the author and the mistake, which almost no name can claim.
- Les is a complete short form with a long American history.
- It is genuinely rare and immediately memorable.
- The association with one fictional vampire is total and unavoidable.
- There is no meaning to give when someone asks.
- Its curve is tightly 1995-2010, which places a bearer's generation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Lestat
Masculine · #6143 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lestats are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Lestat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lestat in 2025?
- Lestat ranks #6143 among US boy names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lestat?
- About 1 in every 122,005 US boys born in 2025 was named Lestat — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lestat with classmates?
- Lestat will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lestat
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ruel#6143 · Cornell#6143 · Vasco#6143 · Kemper#6143 · Yates#6143 · Roark#6143 · Raja#6143 · Orville#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lestat? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lestat and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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