Priest
Masculine · “elder”
Priest is the English word, and it has nothing to do with sacrifice — presbyteros in Greek simply means an older man.
How old is the name Priest?
Priest first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Priest is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Priest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Priest most popular?
Priest peaked in 1973, reaching #1400 nationally. Today it ranks #4249, 2,849 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From presbyteros to Priest
The story of Priest
The early Christian communities were led by elders, presbyteroi, and the word for that office is what English wore down to priest — so the English word is a compressed Greek comparative meaning older. Presbyterian comes from the same word without the erosion. The surname was occupational or a byname. Priest appears as an American given name in the twentieth century in small numbers.
Meaning
elder
From Greek presbyteros, an elder, the comparative of presbys, old; Latin took presbyter and Old English wore it down to preost. The word for a sacrificing priest in Greek is hiereus, which is entirely separate.
How the name formed
- presbyteros
- preost
- priest
Related forms: Priester · Presbítero
Pronouncing Priest
PREEST
One syllable. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Priest
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 201950 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1400reached in 1973
- Change vs 2024
- −7.7%24 in 2025, from 26
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.
Priest in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Priester in German — related form
- Presbítero in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Illinois, Ohio.
Priests among us
people named Priest are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 71,170 born in 2025 was named Priest
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 Timoteo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Priest's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Timoteo climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Timoteo's path sketches the road Priest is walking now.
Priest 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
Priest beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Priest in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An ordinary English word, so nobody has to be taught to say or spell it.
- A genuinely good piece of word history behind it.
- Six letters and one syllable, quick to write.
- It names a religious office, which strangers will remark on every time.
- It reads as a title rather than a name in most settings.
- A one-syllable name gives little room for a nickname.
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What they receive
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Priest
Masculine · #4249 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Priests 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 Priest are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Priest in 2025?
- Priest ranks #4249 among US boy names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Priest?
- About 1 in every 71,170 US boys born in 2025 was named Priest — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Priest with classmates?
- Priest will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Priest
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Guadalupe#4249 · Denny#4249 · Hughes#4249 · Erling#4249 · Rodrick#4249 · Elric#4249 · Ron#4249 · Wright#4249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Priest? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Priest and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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