Sebastian
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "revered" or "venerable".
Roughly 204,231 people in the United States go by the first name Sebastian, which ranks #14 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sebastian today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sebastian births was 2016 (10,324 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Carter (204,143).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sebastian. 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 Sebastian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sebastian is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 398 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Sebastian is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
204K
~ 1 in 1,678 Americans
Peak year
2016
10,324 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14
Tracked since 1881
Census
Sebastian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 156,137 people with the first name Sebastian, which placed it at #359 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
#359
National first-name rank
People counted
156K
156,137 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
51.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
64.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sebastian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sebastian is Hispanic at 64.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Sebastian 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 Sebastian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino64.8% · 101,191
- White26.4% · 41,281
- Two or more races3.3% · 5,207
- Black or African American3.1% · 4,820
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 3,115
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 523
Gender
Gender distribution for Sebastian
Out of the 209,783 babies given the name Sebastian since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Sebastian as a male name
- Ranked #14 in 2024
- 8,562 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (10,308 births)
Sebastian as a female name
- Ranked #6,338 in 2024
- 19 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sebastian appears almost entirely male. Of the 156,144 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Sebastian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sebastian from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 86,796 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sebastian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sebastian 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 Sebastian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sebastians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Sebastian, while Wyoming, Vermont, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,046 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sebastian
The name Sebastian originated from the Latin name Sebastianus, which derived from the Greek name Sebastianos. Sebastianos is the Greek adjective meaning "venerable" or "revered." The name rose to prominence in the 3rd century AD during the Roman era and was associated with the Christian Saint Sebastian, a 3rd-century Roman martyr.
Sebastian was a favored name among early Christians and appears in various religious texts and historical records from the 4th century onward. The name was particularly popular in regions where Christianity spread, including parts of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Saint Sebastian, a Roman soldier who was martyred for his Christian faith during the reign of Emperor Diocletian in the late 3rd century AD. Saint Sebastian became a prominent figure in Christian iconography and is often depicted with arrows piercing his body.
Another notable figure named Sebastian was Sebastian I, who served as Pope from 615 to 618 AD. He is remembered for his efforts to promote church unity and his condemnation of the Monophysite heresy.
During the Middle Ages, the name Sebastian gained popularity across Europe. One of the most renowned individuals with this name was Sebastian Brant (1457-1521), a German humanist and satirist best known for his satirical work "The Ship of Fools."
In the Renaissance era, the name continued to be used by notable figures, including Sebastian Cabot (1476-1557), an Italian navigator and explorer who played a significant role in the Age of Discovery, and Sebastian Virdung (c. 1465-c. 1511), a German author and musician who wrote one of the earliest treatises on musical instruments.
Later in history, Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the renowned German composer and musician, carried the name. His works, including the Brandenburg Concertos and the St. Matthew Passion, are considered masterpieces of the Baroque period.
Another famous bearer of the name was Sebastian Junger (born 1962), an American journalist, author, and filmmaker known for his works on conflict and war, such as "The Perfect Storm" and "Restrepo."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sebastian
People
Sebastian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sebastian as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sebastian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sebastian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204,231 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sebastian 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 1,678 US residents.
Is Sebastian a common name?
We classify Sebastian as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 209,783 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sebastian most popular?
The single biggest year for Sebastian was 2016, when 10,324 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sebastian is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sebastian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 156,137 people with the name Sebastian, or 51.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #359 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 Sebastian 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 Sebastian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sebastian appears almost entirely male. Of the 156,144 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Sebastian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sebastian is Hispanic at 64.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Sebastian most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sebastian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.8% (101,191 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 Sebastian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sebastian a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Sebastian 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 Sebastian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sebastian 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 Sebastian 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 have the name Sebastian?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.