Chapin
A French masculine name derived from the word "chaperon", signifying protector.
Name Census estimates that about 256 living Americans carry the first name Chapin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Chapin today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chapin births was 1995 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chapin. 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
256
~ 1 in 1,338,884 Americans
Peak year
1995
20 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2015 SSA rank
#10,915
Tracked since 1922
Census
Chapin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 416 people with the first name Chapin, which placed it at #23,505 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
#23,505
National first-name rank
People counted
416
416 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chapin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chapin is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Chapin 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 Chapin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.5% · 360
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 27
- Two or more races4.6% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 4
- Black or African American0.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Chapin
Chapin leans heavily male at 83.8% of total registrations, but 45 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Chapin as a male name
- Ranked #10,915 in 2015
- 6 male births in 2015
- Peak: 1986 (14 births)
Chapin as a female name
- Ranked #16,256 in 2003
- 5 female births in 2003
- Peak: 1996 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chapin on both sides of the split. Of the 415 people counted with this name, 291 were male (70.1%) and 124 were female (29.9%).
Popularity
Chapin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chapin from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 113 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chapin 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 Chapin 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 Chapin
The name Chapin has its origins in the ancient French language, with roots tracing back to the medieval era. Derived from the Old French word "chapel," which means "little cloak" or "cape," the name Chapin initially referred to individuals who crafted or sold such garments. This connection to skilled tradespeople may have contributed to the name's prevalence among the working classes of France during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chapin can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem "La Chanson de Roland," where a character named Chapin is mentioned as a valiant knight. This literary reference suggests that the name had already gained a degree of recognition and respect by that time.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Chapin Vitry (c. 1285 - c. 1361) emerged as a prominent French composer and music theorist. His influential treatise "Ars Nova" played a crucial role in the development of Western music notation and theory, cementing his place in the annals of musical history.
During the Renaissance period, the name Chapin gained further prominence with the rise of the Chapin family, a prominent French dynasty that produced several notable figures. One such figure was René Chapin (1512 - 1579), a skilled diplomat and ambassador who served under King Henry II of France.
Moving into the 17th century, the name Chapin found its way across the Atlantic to the Americas. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in North America was Chapin Higgins (1614 - 1672), a Puritan settler who arrived in Massachusetts and became a prominent landowner and community leader in the colonial era.
As the centuries progressed, the name Chapin continued to be associated with influential individuals. In the 19th century, Chapin Harris (1806 - 1890) made a significant impact as an American Baptist minister and abolitionist, playing a pivotal role in the anti-slavery movement.
Another notable figure bearing the name Chapin was Joseph Chapline (1828 - 1891), a renowned American Civil War general who fought for the Union Army and later served as a United States Congressman representing Missouri.
Throughout its rich history, the name Chapin has been carried by a diverse array of individuals, from valiant knights and skilled musicians to influential political and military leaders. While its origins can be traced back to the medieval French working class, the name has transcended its humble beginnings and become a part of the tapestry of human history.
People
Chapin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chapin 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
Chapin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chapin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 256 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chapin 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 1,338,884 US residents.
Is Chapin a common name?
We classify Chapin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 278 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chapin most popular?
The single biggest year for Chapin was 1995, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chapin is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chapin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 416 people with the name Chapin, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,505 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 Chapin 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 Chapin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chapin on both sides of the split. Of the 415 people counted with this name, 291 were male (70.1%) and 124 were female (29.9%). 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 Chapin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chapin is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Chapin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chapin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.5% (360 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 Chapin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chapin a male name?
Yes, 83.8% of people registered as Chapin 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 Chapin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chapin 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 Chapin 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 called Chapin?
You can see how many Americans are named Chapin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.