Modeste

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Modestus in TZ Tanzania, NG Nigeria.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Modeste is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English surname9.2K records spelled Modeste7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Grenada, Canada

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Modesté, Mödéśťe, Modèstè

• Spanish surname1.4K records spelled Modeste4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, Philippines

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Môdêste

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Modeste is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, modest, humble

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Russian, de modestus, qui a fait preuve de modération, de modus, mesure. Fêtes : 16 (29) mai, 15 (28) juin, 18 (31) décembre. Modeste est son équivalent français. Fêtes : 24 février, 10 novembre, 15 juin.

  as a name·Russian Names

• In Latin, moderately, temperately, discreetly, modestly

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Italian, feminine plural of modesto

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Esperanto, modestly

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

GP INSEE — Fichier des prénoms (births by department), dpt 971 (Guadeloupe) — 32 years between 1907–1972. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Guy Modesteb. 1954FRassociation football player (1954-2018)
• Jimmy Modesteb. 1981FRFootballer (born 1981)
• Anthony Modesteb. 1988FRFrench footballer (born 1988)
• Billy Modesteb. 1988FRFrench association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 115 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Modeste?

We estimate roughly 1.8 thousand people bear Modeste (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Modeste have the most bearers?

We estimate about 834 people bear Modeste in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled modeste.

Where is Modeste most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Modeste is densest in Grenada — about 1 in 288 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

What does the name Modeste mean?

Recorded meaning: from the personal name Modeste, a vernacular form of Latin Modestus, from the adjective modestus ‘reserved’, ‘gentle’, ‘virtuous’.