Chiron
A Greek mythological centaur skilled in medicine and tutoring.
Name Census estimates that about 143 living Americans carry the first name Chiron. It is a predominantly male name (96.6% of registrations). The average person named Chiron today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chiron births was 2019 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chiron. 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 Chiron with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
143
~ 1 in 2,396,883 Americans
Peak year
2019
16 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,310
Tracked since 1983
Census
Chiron in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 176 people with the first name Chiron, which placed it at #41,537 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
#41,537
National first-name rank
People counted
176
176 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chiron
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chiron is White at 42.0%. The next largest groups are Black (35.2%) and Two or More Races (8.5%). 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 Chiron 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 Chiron at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.0% · 74
- Black or African American35.2% · 62
- Two or more races8.5% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.3% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Chiron
Chiron leans heavily male at 96.6% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Chiron as a male name
- Ranked #7,310 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (16 births)
Chiron as a female name
- Ranked #10,569 in 1983
- 5 female births in 1983
- Peak: 1983 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chiron leans strongly male. 160 people counted with this name were male (87.4%), compared with 23 female bearers (12.6%).
Popularity
Chiron: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chiron from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 61 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
Chiron 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 Chiron 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 Chiron
The name Chiron originated from Greek mythology and has its roots in the Greek word "kheir" meaning hand. It was the name of a centaur, a half-man and half-horse creature, who was renowned for his knowledge of medicine, music, and archery.
Chiron was born to the nymph Philyra and the god Cronus, who had taken the form of a stallion. In Greek mythology, he was considered to be the wisest and most just of the centaurs, and was highly revered for his teachings.
The earliest recorded references to Chiron can be found in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well as in the works of other ancient Greek writers such as Hesiod and Pindar. He was often depicted as a teacher and mentor to many heroes, including Achilles, Jason, and Hercules.
One of the earliest known individuals named Chiron was a Greek sculptor who lived in the 5th century BC. He was renowned for his works in bronze and is credited with creating the statue of the Delian Apollo.
In the 2nd century AD, there was a Greek philosopher named Chiron who was a follower of the Stoic school of thought. He wrote several treatises on ethics and logic, but unfortunately, most of his works have been lost over time.
During the Renaissance period, Chiron was the name of an Italian painter and architect who lived in the 15th century. He was known for his frescoes and was commissioned to work on several churches and palaces in Rome and Florence.
In the 19th century, Chiron was the name of a French astronomer who discovered the first centaur object in the solar system, a minor planet that orbits between the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt. This object was named after the centaur from Greek mythology.
Another notable individual named Chiron was a Greek philosopher and mystic who lived in the early 20th century. He founded the Spiritual School of the Universal White Brotherhood, which promoted spiritual teachings and practices.
People
Chiron + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chiron 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
Chiron: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chiron?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chiron 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 2,396,883 US residents.
Is Chiron a common name?
We classify Chiron as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 145 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chiron most popular?
The single biggest year for Chiron was 2019, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chiron is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chiron in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 176 people with the name Chiron, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,537 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 Chiron 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 Chiron?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chiron leans strongly male. 160 people counted with this name were male (87.4%), compared with 23 female bearers (12.6%). 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 Chiron?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chiron is White at 42.0%. The next largest groups are Black (35.2%) and Two or More Races (8.5%). 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 Chiron most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chiron in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.0% (74 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 Chiron in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chiron a male name?
Yes, 96.6% of people registered as Chiron 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 Chiron still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chiron 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 Chiron 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 Chiron?
Find out how many Americans are named Chiron on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.