Nestor

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Нестор in UA Ukraine, RU Russia, FI Finland and Néstor in CL Chile, SV El Salvador.

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 16 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◐

Nestor is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name23K records spelled Nestor7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, India, Bolivia

  Also written Néstor, Nèstor, Nēstor, Nestór, Nêstor

• Finnish given name15K records spelled Nestor3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Philippines, United States, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Néstor

• Catalan given name7.4K records spelled Nestor2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Argentina

  Also written Néstor

• Lao given name3.1K records spelled Nestor14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Thailand, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Néstor, เนสเตอร์, Nèstor, เนสเตอร, Nestör

• Romanian given name2.2K records spelled Nestor3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, United States, Spain, Moldova

  Also written Neștor, Néstor

• Danish given name1.5K records spelled Nestor8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Denmark, Norway, Philippines

  Languages: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian

  Also written Néstor

67 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●

Nestor 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.

• Name born in classical legend by one of the leaders of the Greeks at Troy, the aged but still vigorous king of Pylos. It may represent a derivative of Greek nostos ‘homecoming’.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Adhastair, formerly Mac Girr an Adhastair, a patronymic from a byname meaning ‘short man of the halter’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• Humanistic Dutch and German name from a classical Greek personal name, borne by a king of Pylos who was one of the Greek leaders in the Trojan war, noted for his age and wisdom. In Homer’s Odyssey, the aged Nestor gives wise advice to Odysseus’ son Telemachos. According to Debrabandere, in Dutch this was a nickname sometimes given to the oldest person in a group.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, An old and wise king in Homer's Iliad.

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

• In French, Dans l’ Iliade et l’ Odyssée , Nestor est le roi légendaire de Pylos, le plus âgé des princes qui assistèrent au siège de Troie, un vieillard plein de sagesse quoique ses discours fussent fort longs. Le mot est passé dans le langage pour désigner un vieillard sagace.

  as a name·2500 noms propres devenus communs : dictionnaire étymologique (éponymes, antonomases et hypallages)

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●

EC INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024) — 125 years between 1900–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Nestor the Chroniclerb. 1056UASaint and chronicler of Kievan Rus'
• Eemil Nestor Setäläb. 1864FIFinnish politician and linguist (1864–1935)
• Nestor Makhnob. 1888UAUkrainian anarchist revolutionary (1888–1934)
• Nestor Paivab. 1905USAmerican actor (1905-1966)
• Néstor Almendrosb. 1930ESSpanish director of photography and director (1930–1992)
• Néstor Kirchnerb. 1950ARPresident of Argentina from 2003 to 2007
• Nestor Serranob. 1955USAmerican actor
• Nestor Carbonellb. 1967USAmerican actor
• Néstor Cantillanab. 1973CLChilean actor
• Néstor Pitanab. 1975ARformer actor and football referee

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 · 1,029 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Nestor?

We estimate roughly 68 thousand people bear Nestor (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Nestor have the most bearers?

Nestor is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled nestor.

How common is Nestor compared with other names?

In Argentina, Nestor is the 119th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Nestor a male or female name?

Nestor is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Nestor mean?

Recorded meaning: Greek name from Nestor, the wise king of Pylos in Homer.