Chaska
A Native American name meaning "firstborn son".
Name Census estimates that about 75 living Americans carry the first name Chaska. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Chaska today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chaska births was 2002 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chaska. 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 Chaska with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Chaska. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
75
~ 1 in 4,570,058 Americans
Peak year
2002
10 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2014 SSA rank
#8,916
Tracked since 1976
Census
Chaska in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 158 people with the first name Chaska, which placed it at #44,091 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
#44,091
National first-name rank
People counted
158
158 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chaska
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaska is White at 38.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (18.4%). 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 Chaska 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 Chaska at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.0% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino20.3% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native18.4% · 29
- Two or more races13.3% · 21
- Black or African American8.2% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Chaska
Chaska leans heavily male at 87.0% of total registrations, but 10 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Chaska as a male name
- Ranked #8,916 in 2014
- 8 male births in 2014
- Peak: 2002 (10 births)
Chaska as a female name
- Ranked #10,652 in 1980
- 5 female births in 1980
- Peak: 1977 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chaska on both sides of the split. Of the 162 people counted with this name, 97 were male (59.9%) and 65 were female (40.1%).
Popularity
Chaska: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chaska from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 35 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Chaska remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chaska 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 Chaska during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chaska
The name Chaska has its origins in the Dakota Sioux language, an indigenous language spoken by the Dakota people of North America. The name is believed to have emerged during the 17th or 18th century, when the Dakota Sioux inhabited parts of present-day Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas.
Chaska is derived from the Dakota word "čhaská," which translates to "first-born son" or "eldest child." The name carries cultural significance, reflecting the importance placed on the first-born son in Dakota Sioux society. It was a name bestowed upon male children as a symbol of pride and honor.
While the name does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is deeply rooted in the oral traditions and cultural practices of the Dakota Sioux people. The earliest recorded instances of the name Chaska can be traced back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when European explorers and settlers began documenting their encounters with the Dakota Sioux tribes.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Chaska was a Dakota Sioux chief who lived in the late 18th century. He played a significant role in negotiations and interactions with European settlers and explorers during that time period. Another notable figure was Chaska, a warrior and leader of the Mdewakanton Band of Dakota Sioux, who participated in the Dakota War of 1862 against the United States government.
In the 19th century, a Dakota Sioux leader named Chaska was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the establishment of the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska in 1866. He advocated for the rights and well-being of his people during a tumultuous period of conflict and displacement.
Beyond its Dakota Sioux origins, the name Chaska has been adopted by individuals from various cultural backgrounds, particularly in the United States. One notable figure was Chaska Ouray, a Native American woman of the Ute tribe, who was born in 1847 and played a significant role in the preservation of her cultural heritage.
Another individual named Chaska was a 19th-century Pawnee warrior and leader, known for his bravery and skill in battle. He participated in numerous conflicts against rival tribes and the United States military during the Indian Wars of the late 19th century.
While the name Chaska may not be as widely recognized today as it once was among the Dakota Sioux people, it remains a testament to the rich cultural heritage and traditions of the indigenous communities of North America.
People
Chaska + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chaska 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
Chaska: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chaska?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 75 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chaska 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 4,570,058 US residents.
Is Chaska a common name?
We classify Chaska as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 77 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chaska most popular?
The single biggest year for Chaska was 2002, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chaska is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chaska in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 158 people with the name Chaska, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,091 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 Chaska 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 Chaska?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chaska on both sides of the split. Of the 162 people counted with this name, 97 were male (59.9%) and 65 were female (40.1%). 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 Chaska?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaska is White at 38.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (18.4%). 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 Chaska most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chaska in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.0% (60 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 Chaska in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chaska a male name?
Yes, 87.0% of people registered as Chaska 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 Chaska still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chaska 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 Chaska 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 share the name Chaska?
Find out how many people have the name Chaska on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.