Chipper
Energetic, lively and buoyant in spirit or behavior.
Name Census estimates that about 407 living Americans carry the first name Chipper. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Chipper today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chipper births was 2021 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chipper. 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
407
~ 1 in 842,148 Americans
Peak year
2021
24 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,938
Tracked since 1945
Census
Chipper in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 315 people with the first name Chipper, which placed it at #28,488 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
#28,488
National first-name rank
People counted
315
315 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chipper
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chipper is White at 84.8%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (5.1%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Chipper 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 Chipper at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.8% · 267
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.1% · 16
- Black or African American3.8% · 12
- Two or more races3.5% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 2
Popularity
Chipper: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chipper from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 103 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
Chipper 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 Chipper during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chippers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chipper
The name Chipper is a relatively modern English word with its origins in the early 20th century. It is believed to have derived from the word "chip," which initially referred to a small piece of wood or a thin slice of something. Over time, the word "chipper" came to describe someone who was lively, spirited, or in good spirits, similar to the sound made by a chipmunk or a bird.
The earliest recorded use of the name Chipper dates back to the 1920s, when it started to emerge as a nickname or pet name for children, particularly boys. It was likely chosen to reflect the energetic and cheerful nature of young children. However, there are no known historical references to the name in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or significant historical records.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Chipper was Chipper Jones, an American professional baseball player born in 1972. He played for the Atlanta Braves from 1993 to 2012 and was known for his consistent and productive career, earning him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Another famous Chipper was Chipper Lowell, a Canadian professional ice hockey player born in 1924. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup with the Maple Leafs in 1947. Lowell was known for his tenacity and grit on the ice.
In the world of entertainment, Chipper Jones Jr., born in 1988, is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his roles in television shows like "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" and "The Suite Life on Deck."
Chipper Nave, born in 1929, was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He is renowned for his whimsical and imaginative stories, such as "The Beastly Feast" and "The Big Leaf Maze."
In the realm of sports, Chipper Wilson, born in 1957, was a professional American football player who played as a defensive back for the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1980s.
While the name Chipper may have started as a nickname, it has since gained popularity as a given name in its own right, reflecting the cheerful and energetic personalities of those who bear it.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Chipper
People
Chipper + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chipper 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
Chipper: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chipper?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 407 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chipper 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 842,148 US residents.
Is Chipper a common name?
We classify Chipper as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 446 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chipper most popular?
The single biggest year for Chipper was 2021, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chipper is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chipper in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 315 people with the name Chipper, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,488 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 Chipper 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 Chipper?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chipper leans strongly male. 302 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 13 female bearers (4.1%). 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 Chipper?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chipper is White at 84.8%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (5.1%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Chipper most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chipper in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.8% (267 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 Chipper in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chipper a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chipper 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 Chipper still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chipper 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 Chipper 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 Americans are named Chipper?
Want to know how many people share the name Chipper? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.