Caspian
Of Persian origin, meaning "person from the Caspian region".
Name Census estimates that about 3,533 living Americans carry the first name Caspian. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Caspian today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caspian births was 2024 (492 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caspian. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Caspian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Caspian is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 97,015 Americans
Peak year
2024
492 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#578
Tracked since 1998
Census
Caspian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,569 people with the first name Caspian, which placed it at #9,033 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
#9,033
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,569 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caspian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caspian is White at 65.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.6%) and Two or More Races (10.8%). 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 Caspian 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 Caspian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.0% · 1,020
- Hispanic or Latino17.6% · 276
- Two or more races10.8% · 170
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 47
- Black or African American2.7% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Caspian
Out of the 3,558 babies given the name Caspian since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Caspian as a male name
- Ranked #578 in 2024
- 492 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (492 births)
Caspian as a female name
- Ranked #15,642 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caspian leans strongly male. 1,523 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 41 female bearers (2.6%).
Popularity
Caspian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caspian from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 1,955 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caspian 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 Caspian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caspians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Caspian, while Nevada, Alaska, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 70 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caspian
The name Caspian has its origins in the Caspian Sea, a large saltwater basin located in Eurasia. The name is derived from the ancient Greek word "Kaspios," which was used to refer to the sea and the surrounding region. The Caspian Sea has been an important geographical feature since ancient times and has played a significant role in trade, cultural exchange, and historical events.
The earliest recorded use of the name Caspian can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman texts, where it was used to describe people or things associated with the Caspian Sea region. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC.
Throughout history, the name Caspian has been borne by a number of notable individuals. One of the earliest known figures with this name was Caspian, a ruler of the Iberian kingdom of Caucasian Iberia in the 3rd century AD. Another prominent Caspian was Caspian of Antioch, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD and was executed for his faith.
In the medieval period, the name Caspian was used by several aristocratic families in Europe. One notable figure was Caspian, a prince of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty, who lived in the 19th century (1844-1900). Another was Caspian, a Count of Looz in the 12th century (1137-1191).
In more recent times, the name Caspian has been borne by several literary and artistic figures. Caspian Tredwell-Owen (1888-1962) was a British artist and illustrator known for his depictions of rural life. Caspian Woods (1932-1996) was an American poet and academic who taught at several universities in the United States.
The name Caspian has also been used in works of fiction, most notably in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, where Caspian is the name of a prince and later king of the fictional land of Narnia. This literary reference has likely contributed to the popularity of the name in more recent times.
People
Caspian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caspian 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
Caspian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caspian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,533 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caspian 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 97,015 US residents.
Is Caspian a common name?
We classify Caspian as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,558 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caspian most popular?
The single biggest year for Caspian was 2024, when 492 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caspian is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caspian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,569 people with the name Caspian, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,033 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 Caspian 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 Caspian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caspian leans strongly male. 1,523 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 41 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Caspian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caspian is White at 65.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.6%) and Two or More Races (10.8%). 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 Caspian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caspian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.0% (1,020 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 Caspian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caspian a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Caspian 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 Caspian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caspian 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 Caspian 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 have Caspian as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Caspian, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.