Meaning and background
The story behind Lester
Lester comes from an English surname used for someone originating in the city of Leicester. That city’s name combines an older river-name element with Latin castra, “camp”, reflecting its early history. It would be misleading to treat Lester as a direct translation of “camp”; the sequence is place name, surname and then given name. In British English it is pronounced LES-tuh, without pronouncing the c heard in the spelling Leicester.
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About Lester
Recorded as a dog’s name
Lester appears in 8 dog licence records in the 2016 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/lɛstɚ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/lɛstɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1L EH1 S T ER0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — all seven available extract years, retrieved 24 October 2026 — Recorded name spellings in NYC licence-period rows, extract years 2016–2018, 2022–2024 and 2026. Evidence selects one stated year per name. Annual snapshots overlap; never sum them as unique dogs. No national popularity, etymology or owner naming-intent claim.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.