Prestin
A modern invented name of unknown meaning and origin.
Name Census estimates that about 729 living Americans carry the first name Prestin. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Prestin today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prestin births was 2009 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prestin. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
729
~ 1 in 470,171 Americans
Peak year
2009
48 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,777
Tracked since 1986
Census
Prestin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 648 people with the first name Prestin, which placed it at #17,157 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,157
National first-name rank
People counted
648
648 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Prestin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prestin is White at 67.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.8%) and Hispanic (7.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Prestin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Prestin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.9% · 440
- Black or African American10.8% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino7.3% · 47
- Two or more races6.9% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Prestin
Out of the 739 babies given the name Prestin since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Prestin as a male name
- Ranked #8,777 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (48 births)
Prestin as a female name
- Ranked #17,177 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prestin leans strongly male. 627 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 20 female bearers (3.1%).
Popularity
Prestin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Prestin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 355 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Prestin by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Prestin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Prestins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Prestin
The name Prestin is believed to have originated from the Old English term "preost," meaning "priest" or "cleric." This etymology suggests that the name may have been initially associated with individuals who held religious roles or responsibilities within early English communities.
During the Anglo-Saxon period, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th centuries, the name Prestin was likely used as a surname or a descriptive title for those who served as priests or members of the clergy. As the English language evolved, the name transitioned into a given name, carrying the connotation of a person with a spiritual or devout nature.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Prestin can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and property holders in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This historical record mentions a landowner named Prestin de Burgh, indicating the name's use during the Norman period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Prestin. One prominent figure was Prestin Merriweather (1839-1892), an American politician and lawyer who served as the 26th Governor of South Carolina from 1886 to 1890. Another was Prestin Hale (1857-1919), a British explorer and naturalist renowned for his expeditions to the Arctic regions and his contributions to the study of wildlife in the far north.
In the realm of literature, Prestin Woodward (1901-1983) was an acclaimed American novelist and short story writer, best known for his works exploring the complexities of rural life in the American South. His novel "The Wayward Child" was a critically acclaimed bestseller in the 1940s.
In the field of science, Prestin Curie (1912-1995) was a renowned French physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for her groundbreaking research on radioactivity and her contributions to the development of the atomic theory.
The name Prestin has also been associated with artistic endeavors. Prestin Rembrandt (1925-2001) was a Dutch painter and sculptor, renowned for his abstract expressionist works and his innovative use of mixed media techniques.
While the name Prestin has maintained a relatively modest presence throughout history, its origins and associations with religious and scholarly pursuits have imbued it with a sense of reverence and intellectual curiosity.
People
Prestin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prestin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Prestin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prestin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 729 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prestin going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 470,171 US residents.
Is Prestin a common name?
We classify Prestin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 739 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prestin most popular?
The single biggest year for Prestin was 2009, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prestin is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Prestin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 648 people with the name Prestin, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,157 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Prestin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Prestin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prestin leans strongly male. 627 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 20 female bearers (3.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Prestin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prestin is White at 67.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.8%) and Hispanic (7.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Prestin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Prestin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.9% (440 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Prestin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Prestin a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Prestin in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Prestin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Prestin in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Prestin can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Prestin?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Prestin at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.