Modesty
Feminine · “Latin modestus”
Modesty was a Puritan virtue name that died with the rest of them, and it came back through a comic strip. Modesty Blaise was created in 1963 for a British newspaper, a former criminal turned agent, and the character is the opposite of the word. The name returned attached to somebody who is not modest at all.
How old is the name Modesty?
Modesty first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Modesty alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 600 people named Modesty are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Modesty most popular?
Modesty peaked in 1995, reaching #4348 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 4,014 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From modestia to Modesty
The story of Modesty
The Puritan virtue names were a coherent set and their fate is instructive. Grace, Faith, Hope and Charity survived because they were short and because their meanings were positive rather than restraining. Patience, Prudence, Temperance, Silence, Obedience, Chastity and Modesty did not, because each of them names a discipline imposed on the bearer, and specifically on a female bearer. By 1800 nearly all were gone from English use. What brings one back is usually a character, and Modesty Blaise is a peculiar case: a comic strip heroine who is competent, violent and entirely unmodest, whose name is a deliberate irony. The strip ran for thirty-eight years, spawned novels and films, and the name enters American records in the 1970s and peaks in 1995, with no Puritan continuity behind it at all.
Meaning
Latin modestus, moderate or restrained
From Latin modestia, moderation or restraint, from modus, a measure. The word belongs to the seventeenth-century English family of virtue names alongside Patience, Prudence, Temperance and Constance, nearly all of which fell out of use. Modesty Blaise, created by Peter O'Donnell in 1963, is the likeliest source of the modern American revival. It peaks in 1995.
How the name formed
- modestia
- Modesty
Related forms: Modesta · Modesta
Pronouncing Modesty
MOD-es-tee
Three syllables, stress on the first. Identical to the common noun. There is no competing reading.
Nicknames for Modesty
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
- 1960
- Most girls named
- 201925 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4348reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%12 in 2025, from 12
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.
Modesty in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Modesta in Spanish — related form
- Modesta in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Modestys among us
people named Modesty are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Modesty
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 Joeleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Modesty's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joeleen climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joeleen's path sketches the road Modesty is walking now.
Modesty 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
Modesty beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Modesty in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and the word is universally understood.
- It has a documented history as both a Puritan name and a modern one.
- The sound is soft and distinctive.
- It is a common noun naming a restraint rather than a quality.
- The virtue-name class it belongs to is otherwise obsolete.
- It is a name that comments on its bearer.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Modesty to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Modesty? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Modesty
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Modestys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Modesty are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Modesty in 2025?
- Modesty ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Modesty?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Modesty — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Modesty with classmates?
- Modesty will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Modesty
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Modesty? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Modesty and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle