Caspar
A Persian name meaning "treasurer" or "keeper of riches".
Name Census estimates that about 342 living Americans carry the first name Caspar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Caspar today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caspar births was 2018 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caspar. 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
342
~ 1 in 1,002,206 Americans
Peak year
2018
25 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,933
Tracked since 1915
Popularity
Caspar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caspar from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 141 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Caspar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caspar 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 Caspar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caspars live
Origin
Meaning and history of Caspar
The name Caspar is a masculine given name of Persian origin, derived from the word "Gaspar" or "Caspar," meaning "treasurer" or "keeper of the treasure." The earliest known use of this name can be traced back to the New Testament, where it was one of the traditional names given to the three wise men or Magi who visited the baby Jesus after his birth.
The name gained widespread popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in Germany, France, and other regions with a strong Christian tradition. It was often associated with the Biblical story of the three wise men, who were said to have brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn Jesus.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Caspar was Caspar Schlick (c. 1370-1449), a German Renaissance composer and priest who served as the court chaplain to the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. He was renowned for his contributions to the development of early Renaissance music.
Another notable figure was Caspar Peucer (1525-1602), a German reformer and scholar who was a close associate of Philipp Melanchthon, one of the key figures of the Protestant Reformation. Peucer made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and medicine.
In the realm of exploration, Caspar de Portolá (1723-1786) was a Spanish explorer and military officer who led the famous Portolá expedition, which explored and colonized parts of present-day California in the late 18th century.
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was a renowned German Romantic landscape painter, best known for his iconic works depicting natural scenes with a sense of mystery and spirituality, such as "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" and "The Monk by the Sea."
Finally, Caspar Weinberger (1917-2006) was an American politician who served as the 15th United States Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1987, playing a crucial role in the military buildup during the Cold War era.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Caspar, a name that has endured across cultures and generations, carrying with it a rich legacy of religious, cultural, and historical significance.
People
Caspar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caspar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caspar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caspar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 342 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caspar 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 1,002,206 US residents.
Is Caspar a common name?
We classify Caspar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 381 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caspar most popular?
The single biggest year for Caspar was 2018, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caspar is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Caspar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caspar 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.
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.