Sevastian
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "venerable" or "revered".
Name Census estimates that about 525 living Americans carry the first name Sevastian. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sevastian today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sevastian births was 2008 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sevastian. 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
525
~ 1 in 652,865 Americans
Peak year
2008
35 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,828
Tracked since 1988
Census
Sevastian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 655 people with the first name Sevastian, which placed it at #17,018 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
#17,018
National first-name rank
People counted
655
655 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
83.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sevastian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sevastian is Hispanic at 83.7%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Black (1.4%). 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 Sevastian 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 Sevastian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino83.7% · 548
- White13.1% · 86
- Black or African American1.4% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 5
- Two or more races0.6% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Sevastian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sevastian from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 250 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sevastian 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 Sevastian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sevastians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Sevastian, while Florida, Arizona, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sevastian
The given name Sevastian has its origins rooted in ancient Greek culture, deriving from the Greek word "sebastos," which means "venerable" or "revered." This name emerged during the Byzantine era, a period spanning from the 4th to the 15th centuries.
Sevastian finds its earliest recorded use in various Eastern Orthodox Christian manuscripts and texts, where it was often bestowed upon individuals revered for their piety and devotion to the faith. The name was particularly popular among the nobility and clergy of the Byzantine Empire.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Sevastian was Saint Sevastian, a Roman soldier who lived in the 3rd century AD. He is venerated as a martyr in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions for his unwavering faith and refusal to renounce Christianity, even in the face of persecution.
Another notable figure was Sevastian of Kargopol, a 16th-century Russian monk and iconographer renowned for his exquisite religious artworks and spiritual teachings. His legacy as a renowned icon painter and spiritual leader earned him widespread admiration across Russia.
In the 17th century, Sevastian Fabian Navis, a Polish-Lithuanian astronomer and mathematician, made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics. His works on planetary motion and the calculation of eclipses garnered him recognition among the scientific community of his time.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Sevastian Konstantinovich Merkulov, a Russian general and military governor, played a pivotal role in the Crimean War. His leadership and strategic decisions during the Siege of Sevastopol, a major battle of the conflict, earned him a place in the annals of Russian military history.
Lastly, Sevastian Fenenko, a Ukrainian artist and painter born in 1892, gained acclaim for his captivating landscapes and portraiture. His works, which often portrayed the beauty of Ukrainian rural life, are celebrated as quintessential examples of early 20th-century Ukrainian art.
While the name Sevastian may have its roots in ancient Greek and Byzantine cultures, it has transcended geographical boundaries and historical eras, appearing throughout various regions and time periods, carried by individuals who have left their mark on religious, artistic, scientific, and military realms.
People
Sevastian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sevastian 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
Sevastian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sevastian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 525 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sevastian 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 652,865 US residents.
Is Sevastian a common name?
We classify Sevastian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 531 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sevastian most popular?
The single biggest year for Sevastian was 2008, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sevastian is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sevastian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 655 people with the name Sevastian, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,018 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 Sevastian 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 Sevastian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sevastian appears almost entirely male. Of the 646 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Sevastian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sevastian is Hispanic at 83.7%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Black (1.4%). 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 Sevastian most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sevastian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.7% (548 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 Sevastian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sevastian a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sevastian 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 Sevastian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sevastian 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 Sevastian 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 Sevastian?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.