Chief
A masculine given name of Native American origin meaning "leader".
Name Census estimates that about 325 living Americans carry the first name Chief. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Chief today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chief births was 2020 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chief. 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
325
~ 1 in 1,054,629 Americans
Peak year
2020
34 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,080
Tracked since 1919
Popularity
Chief: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chief from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 149 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
Chief 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 Chief during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chiefs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chief
The name Chief is an English word derived from the Old French "chef", meaning head or leader. It originated as a title or rank rather than a given name, referring to the highest-ranking member or leader of a group, organization, or community.
In its earliest usage, the term "chief" was often associated with the leaders of Native American tribes and communities. Many historical records and accounts from the colonial era in North America mention various tribal chiefs and their interactions with European settlers and explorers.
One of the earliest recorded examples of a Native American chief is Powhatan, who was the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy in present-day Virginia. He lived from around 1550 to 1618 and had interactions with the English colonists at Jamestown, including his daughter Pocahontas.
Another notable chief from history is Sitting Bull, who was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader and holy man. He lived from 1831 to 1890 and was instrumental in the victory over the U.S. Army at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
In European history, the term "chief" was sometimes used as a title or rank, particularly in military contexts. One example is Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who was often referred to as the "Chief" during his military campaigns, including his pivotal role in the Napoleonic Wars. He lived from 1769 to 1852.
The name Chief also appears in various works of literature and popular culture throughout history. In the novel "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, published in 1954, one of the main characters is a young boy named Ralph, who is elected as the chief of a group of stranded children on a deserted island.
Another famous fictional character with the name Chief is Chief Bromden from the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, published in 1962. Chief Bromden is a Native American patient in a psychiatric hospital and serves as the narrator of the story.
While the name Chief has its roots as a title or rank, it has also been adopted as a given name in some cases, particularly in English-speaking cultures. However, it remains relatively uncommon as a first name compared to its usage as a title or descriptor.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Chief
People
Chief + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chief 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
Chief: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chief?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 325 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chief 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 1,054,629 US residents.
Is Chief a common name?
We classify Chief as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 332 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chief most popular?
The single biggest year for Chief was 2020, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chief is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Chief a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chief 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.