Christian
A masculine given name of Greek origin meaning "follower of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 453,090 living Americans carry the first name Christian. It sits at #77 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (95.8% of registrations). The average person named Christian today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Christian births was 1996 (16,543 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Kathleen (452,244).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Christian. 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 Christian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Christian is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 19,847 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
453K
~ 1 in 756 Americans
Peak year
1996
16,543 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#77
Tracked since 1880
Census
Christian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 415,785 people with the first name Christian, which placed it at #111 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
#111
National first-name rank
People counted
416K
415,785 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
137.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Christian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Christian is White at 42.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.8%) and Black (12.2%). 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 Christian 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 Christian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.0% · 174,488
- Hispanic or Latino37.8% · 157,166
- Black or African American12.2% · 50,901
- Two or more races4.4% · 18,201
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 12,721
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2,308
Gender
Gender distribution for Christian
Christian leans heavily male at 95.8% of total registrations, but 19,847 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Christian as a male name
- Ranked #77 in 2024
- 4,247 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (16,057 births)
Christian as a female name
- Ranked #4,479 in 2024
- 31 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (987 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Christian leans strongly male. 398,291 people counted with this name were male (95.8%), compared with 17,496 female bearers (4.2%).
Popularity
Christian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Christian from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 145,249 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
Christian 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 Christian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Christians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Christian, while Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9,080 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Christian
The given name Christian has its origins in the late Greek word Χριστιανός (Christianos), which was derived from the word Χριστός (Christos), meaning "the anointed one" or "Christ". The name was initially used as an adherent or follower of Christ, and later became a popular personal name among Christians.
The use of the name Christian can be traced back to the early Christian era, around the 1st century AD. It is believed to have been first used in the city of Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first referred to as "Christians" (Acts 11:26). The name quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire and other regions with the growth of Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Christian appears in the New Testament, where it is mentioned that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26). The name also appears in various early Christian writings and texts, such as the Didache and the writings of Ignatius of Antioch.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Christian. One of the earliest was Christian of Gaza (5th century), a Christian monk and writer from Gaza. Another early figure was Christian of Stavelot (c. 630-720), a Benedictine monk and abbot who founded the Abbey of Stavelot in present-day Belgium.
In the Middle Ages, Christian names became more widespread as Christianity spread across Europe. One notable figure was Christian of Buch (c. 1180-1237), a Danish prince and later a Cistercian monk who founded the Priory of Antvorskov in Denmark.
During the Renaissance period, Christian names continued to be popular, particularly among the nobility and ruling classes. One prominent example was Christian I (1426-1481), who was the King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from 1460 to 1481.
In more recent times, several notable figures have borne the name Christian, including Christian Dior (1905-1957), the French fashion designer and founder of the Dior fashion house, and Christian Bale (born 1974), the English actor known for his roles in films such as The Dark Knight trilogy and The Machinist.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Christian
People
Christian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Christian 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
Christian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Christian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 453,090 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Christian 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 756 US residents.
Is Christian a common name?
We classify Christian as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 470,105 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Christian most popular?
The single biggest year for Christian was 1996, when 16,543 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Christian is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Christian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 415,785 people with the name Christian, or 137.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #111 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 Christian 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 Christian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Christian leans strongly male. 398,291 people counted with this name were male (95.8%), compared with 17,496 female bearers (4.2%). 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 Christian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Christian is White at 42.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.8%) and Black (12.2%). 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 Christian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Christian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.0% (174,488 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 Christian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Christian a male name?
Yes, 95.8% of people registered as Christian 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 Christian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Christian 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 Christian 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 Christian?
Want to know how many people share the name Christian? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.