Christiopher
Derived from the Greek words "Christos" (Christ) and "phero" (to bear), it refers to a bearer of Christ.
Name Census estimates that about 33 living Americans carry the first name Christiopher. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Christiopher today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Christiopher births was 1985 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Christiopher. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Christiopher. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
33
~ 1 in 10,386,495 Americans
Peak year
1985
7 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1989 SSA rank
#6,331
Tracked since 1972
Popularity
Christiopher: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Christiopher from the 1970s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 30 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
Christiopher 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 Christiopher 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 Christiopher
The name Christopher is derived from the Greek name "Christophoros," which means "Christ-bearer" or "bearer of Christ." This name originated in the late Greek period, around the 3rd or 4th century AD, when Christianity was spreading across the Roman Empire.
The name is believed to be a reference to the legend of St. Christopher, a martyr who carried a child across a river and later discovered that the child was the Christ child, bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. This legend is recounted in the Golden Legend, a popular medieval collection of hagiographies (stories of saints).
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Christopher can be found in the writings of the 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, who mentioned a man named Christopher among the officers of the Roman army.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Christopher. One of the most famous was Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer who is credited with discovering the Americas for the Spanish Crown in 1492.
Another prominent Christopher was Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era, best known for his play "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus."
In the realm of science, Christopher Wren (1632-1723) was an English architect, astronomer, and mathematician, renowned for designing numerous buildings, including St. Paul's Cathedral in London, after the Great Fire of 1666.
Christopher Eccleston (born 1964) is a British actor known for his roles in television series such as "Doctor Who" and films like "Shallow Grave" and "28 Days Later."
Lastly, Christopher Nolan (born 1970) is a highly acclaimed British-American film director, known for his innovative and mind-bending movies like "Memento," "Inception," and "Interstellar."
People
Christiopher + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Christiopher 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
Christiopher: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Christiopher?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Christiopher 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 10,386,495 US residents.
Is Christiopher a common name?
We classify Christiopher as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 35 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Christiopher most popular?
The single biggest year for Christiopher was 1985, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Christiopher is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Christiopher in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Christiopher a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Christiopher 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 Christiopher still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Christiopher 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 Christiopher 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Christiopher?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.