Chaim
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "life" or "alive".
Name Census estimates that about 11,285 living Americans carry the first name Chaim. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Chaim today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chaim births was 2022 (462 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chaim. 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 Chaim with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,373 Americans
Peak year
2022
462 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#694
Tracked since 1942
Census
Chaim in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,325 people with the first name Chaim, which placed it at #2,790 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
#2,790
National first-name rank
People counted
8.3K
8,325 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chaim
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaim is White at 97.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Chaim 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 Chaim at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.2% · 8,089
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 76
- Black or African American0.8% · 65
- Two or more races0.6% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Chaim
Out of the 11,653 babies given the name Chaim since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Chaim as a male name
- Ranked #694 in 2024
- 388 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (462 births)
Chaim as a female name
- Ranked #9,474 in 1985
- 6 female births in 1985
- Peak: 1985 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chaim appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,326 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Chaim: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chaim from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,209 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Chaim remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chaim 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 Chaim during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chaims live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Maryland recorded the most babies named Chaim, while Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,058 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chaim
The name Chaim is a Hebrew given name originating from the ancient Semitic languages. It is derived from the Hebrew word "chai", meaning "life" or "alive". The earliest known usage of the name can be traced back to the biblical era, around the 6th century BCE.
In the Hebrew Bible, the name Chaim is not explicitly mentioned, but it is closely related to the concept of "life" and "living". The name is often associated with the Jewish belief in the sanctity of life and the importance of living in accordance with the teachings of the Torah.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chaim is in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism written between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE. The Talmud mentions several individuals with the name Chaim, though their exact years of birth and death are not always clearly stated.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Chaim. One of the most famous was Chaim Nachman Bialik (1873-1934), a renowned Hebrew poet and writer who is considered a pioneering figure in modern Hebrew literature.
Another notable Chaim was Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952), a Russian-born biochemist and Zionist leader who played a pivotal role in the establishment of the State of Israel. He later served as the first President of Israel from 1949 to 1952.
In the 18th century, Chaim Yosef David Azulai (1724-1806), also known as the Chida, was a renowned Sephardic rabbi and scholar who wrote extensively on Jewish law, philosophy, and mysticism.
In the 20th century, Chaim Potok (1929-2002) was an American author and rabbi best known for his novels exploring the conflict between tradition and modernity in the Jewish community, such as "The Chosen" and "The Promise".
Chaim Rumkowski (1877-1944) was a controversial figure who served as the head of the Jewish Council in the Lodz Ghetto during World War II. His actions and decisions during the Holocaust remain a subject of intense debate and scrutiny.
The name Chaim has remained a popular choice among Jewish communities worldwide, reflecting its deep cultural and religious significance. It continues to be a name that celebrates life, resilience, and the enduring spirit of the Jewish people.
People
Chaim + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chaim 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
Chaim: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chaim?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,285 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chaim 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 30,373 US residents.
Is Chaim a common name?
We classify Chaim as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,653 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chaim most popular?
The single biggest year for Chaim was 2022, when 462 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chaim is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chaim in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,325 people with the name Chaim, or 2.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,790 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 Chaim 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 Chaim?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chaim appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,326 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Chaim?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaim is White at 97.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Chaim most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chaim in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.2% (8,089 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 Chaim in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chaim a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Chaim 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 Chaim still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chaim 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 Chaim 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 Chaim?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.