Very Common

Christopher

From the Greek name Χριστόφορος (bearer of Christ).

Name Census estimates that about 1,933,719 living Americans carry the first name Christopher. It sits at #61 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Christopher today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Christopher births was 1984 (60,409 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Joseph (1,758,265).

This page is the full Name Census profile for Christopher. 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 Christopher with official rankings and popularity over time.

Key insights

• Although Christopher is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 9,507 girls registered with the name since 1880.
• Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Christopher have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.

People living today

1.9M

~ 1 in 177 Americans

Peak year

1984

60,409 babies that year

Average age

years old

2024 SSA rank

#61

Tracked since 1880

Census

Christopher in the 2020 Census

The 2020 Census recorded 1,499,874 people with the first name Christopher, which placed it at #13 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

#13

National first-name rank

People counted

1.5M

1,499,874 in the published race/origin table

Per 100,000

496.6

People with this name in 2020

Largest reported group

White

71.5% of people with this name

Demographics

Ancestry and ethnicity for Christopher

In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Christopher is White at 71.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.4%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Christopher 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 Christopher at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.

White71.5% · 1,072,790
Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 186,193
Black or African American9.7% · 145,807
Two or more races3.7% · 55,768
Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 31,043
American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 8,273

Gender

Gender distribution for Christopher

Out of the 2,074,303 babies given the name Christopher since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.

100% male

Male2,064,796 (99.5%)Female9,507 (0.5%)

Christopher as a male name

Ranked #61 in 2024
5,054 male births in 2024
Peak: 1984 (60,019 births)

Christopher as a female name

Ranked #13,793 in 2023
6 female births in 2023
Peak: 1982 (430 births)

2020 Census snapshot

In the 2020 Census sex table, Christopher appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,499,872 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.

100% male

Male1,497,658 (99.9%)Female2,214 (0.1%)

Popularity

Christopher: popularity over time

The SSA tracks Christopher from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 558,526 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.

Babies born per year

MaleFemale

Decades

Christopher 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 Christopher during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.

Decade	Male	Female	Total
1880s	752	0	752
1890s	668	0	668
1900s	484	0	484
1910s	1,960	0	1,960
1920s	2,862	0	2,862
1930s	2,731	13	2,744
1940s	15,865	199	16,064
1950s	78,334	322	78,656
1960s	237,144	934	238,078
1970s	475,446	2,768	478,214
1980s	554,886	3,640	558,526
1990s	360,280	1,047	361,327
2000s	203,370	431	203,801
2010s	102,121	120	102,241
2020s	27,893	33	27,926

Geography

Where Christophers live

The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Christopher, while Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40,548 registrations each.

Origin

Meaning and history of Christopher

The given name Christopher is derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (Christophoros), which is a compound of two words: Χριστός (Christos) meaning "Christ" and φέρω (phero) meaning "to bear, to carry". The literal translation of the name is "Christ-bearer" or "bearer of Christ".

The name has its origins in early Christianity and is believed to have been first used in reference to a 3rd-century Christian martyr named Saint Christopher, who was venerated for carrying the Christ child across a river. This legendary act gave rise to the name's symbolic meaning of protecting and guiding others through difficult times.

The name Christopher became popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly after the spread of Christianity throughout the continent. It was widely used among the Germanic, Slavic, and Romance language-speaking regions, with variations in spelling and pronunciation, such as Christophe in French and Cristoforo in Italian.

One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Christopher is found in the Codex Calixtinus, a 12th-century manuscript from the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain, which mentions a monk named Christopher who accompanied the body of Saint James the Great on its journey from Palestine to Spain.

Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Christopher. Some examples include:

1. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer who led expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

2. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), an English playwright, poet, and translator, who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare and is best known for his play "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus".

3. Christopher Wren (1632-1723), an English architect who designed many buildings in London, including St. Paul's Cathedral, after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

4. Christopher Polhem (1661-1751), a Swedish scientist, inventor, and industrialist, who is considered a pioneer of the Swedish industrial revolution and is known for his contributions to mechanical engineering.

5. Christopher Smart (1722-1771), an English poet and playwright, best known for his religious poem "A Song to David", which he wrote while confined in a mental asylum.

These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Christopher, reflecting its enduring popularity and significance across various cultures and time periods.

People

Christopher + last name combinations

How many people share a full name with Christopher as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.

Other names starting with C

Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.

FAQ

Christopher: questions and answers

How many people in the U.S. are named Christopher?

Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,933,719 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Christopher 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 177 US residents.

Is Christopher a common name?

We classify Christopher as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,074,303 babies have been registered with this name.

When was Christopher most popular?

The single biggest year for Christopher was 1984, when 60,409 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Christopher is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.

How common was Christopher in the 2020 Census?

The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,499,874 people with the name Christopher, or 496.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13 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 Christopher 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 Christopher?

In the 2020 Census sex table, Christopher appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,499,872 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Christopher?

Which group reports the name Christopher most often in the Census?

White is the largest reported group for people named Christopher in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.5% (1,072,790 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 Christopher in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.

Is Christopher a male name?

Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Christopher 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 Christopher still being used today?

Yes. The SSA still recorded Christopher 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 Christopher 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 are named Christopher?

Want to know how many people have the name Christopher? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.

Name Census

namecensus.com

There are 1.9M people

with the first name