Champion
A conquering hero or ambitious warrior, victorious protector or winner.
Name Census estimates that about 696 living Americans carry the first name Champion. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Champion today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Champion births was 2019 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Champion. 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 Champion with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
696
~ 1 in 492,463 Americans
Peak year
2019
71 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,790
Tracked since 1914
Census
Champion in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 408 people with the first name Champion, which placed it at #23,859 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
#23,859
National first-name rank
People counted
408
408 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Champion
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Champion is Black at 56.9%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Champion 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 Champion at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.9% · 232
- White18.1% · 74
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 46
- Two or more races9.1% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Popularity
Champion: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Champion from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 316 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
Champion 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 Champion during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Champions live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, California recorded the most babies named Champion, while Virginia, New York, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Champion
The given name Champion is an English name derived from the Old French word "champiun," which itself originated from the Late Latin word "campio," meaning "open field" or "battlefield." Its roots can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic word "*kamp-," meaning "to struggle" or "to fight." The name was initially used to refer to a warrior who fought in battles or tournaments.
In the Middle Ages, the term "champion" was used to describe a skilled fighter or knight who would represent a lord or monarch in a judicial combat or trial by combat. These champions were highly respected and often held in high regard for their bravery and skill in combat.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Champion can be found in the 13th-century English poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," where a character named Sir Campiun is mentioned. In the 14th century, the name appears in various historical records, including the "Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem" from 1350, which mentions a person named Champion de Lisle.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Champion. One of the earliest was Champion de Villeneuve (c. 1270-1345), a French knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War and was renowned for his military prowess.
Another famous Champion was Champion Symes (1577-1638), an English author and playwright who wrote several works, including "The Loyal Subject" and "The Fortune Players."
In the 19th century, Champion Ellsworth Dickinson (1819-1905) was an American businessman and politician who served as the mayor of Akron, Ohio, and as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.
The name also appears in religious texts, such as the Bible, where a character named Champion is mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapter 15).
Other notable individuals with the name Champion include Champion Jones (1957-2018), an American boxer and former world heavyweight champion, and Champion Nigel Redman (1953-2019), an English professional wrestler known as "The Wrestling Champion."
People
Champion + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Champion 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
Champion: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Champion?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 696 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Champion 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 492,463 US residents.
Is Champion a common name?
We classify Champion as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 715 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Champion most popular?
The single biggest year for Champion was 2019, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Champion is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Champion in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 408 people with the name Champion, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,859 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 Champion 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 Champion?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Champion leans strongly male. 390 people counted with this name were male (94.2%), compared with 24 female bearers (5.8%). 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 Champion?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Champion is Black at 56.9%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Champion most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Champion in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.9% (232 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 Champion in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Champion a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Champion 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 Champion still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Champion 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 Champion 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 common is the name Champion?
You can see how many people share the name Champion on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.