Cristopher
Bearer of Christ, from the Greek name Christophoros.
Name Census estimates that about 11,474 living Americans carry the first name Cristopher. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cristopher today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cristopher births was 2007 (576 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cristopher. 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 Cristopher with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 29,872 Americans
Peak year
2007
576 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,226
Tracked since 1950
Census
Cristopher in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,199 people with the first name Cristopher, which placed it at #2,433 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
#2,433
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,199 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
70.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cristopher
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cristopher is Hispanic at 70.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.3%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Cristopher 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 Cristopher at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino70.0% · 7,138
- White22.3% · 2,275
- Black or African American3.5% · 360
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 233
- Two or more races1.6% · 162
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 31
Popularity
Cristopher: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cristopher from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,203 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
Cristopher 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 Cristopher during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cristophers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Cristopher, while New Mexico, Kentucky, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 252 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cristopher
The name Cristopher has its origins in the Greek language, deriving from the words "Christos" meaning "Christ" and "pherein" meaning "to bear." It was originally a combination of these two words, forming "Christophoros," which translates to "Christ-bearer." The name was first adopted by early Christians as a means of expressing their faith and devotion to Jesus Christ.
In ancient times, the name Cristopher was particularly popular among the Greek-speaking regions of the Byzantine Empire, where Christianity was the dominant religion. It later spread to other parts of Europe, including Italy, France, and Spain, where it underwent various spelling variations, such as "Cristoforo," "Cristophe," and "Cristóbal."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cristopher can be found in the apocryphal text "The Acts of St. Christopher," which dates back to the 6th century AD. This text tells the story of a man named Cristopher, who was said to have carried the Christ Child across a river, hence the name's meaning of "Christ-bearer."
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Cristopher. One of the most famous was Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer who is credited with leading the first European expeditions to the Americas in 1492. Another prominent Cristopher was Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), an English playwright and poet who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.
In the religious realm, Saint Christopher (3rd century AD) was a Christian martyr venerated in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. His legend, which involved carrying the Christ Child across a river, contributed to the popularity of the name among Christians.
Other notable Cristophers include Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the English architect responsible for designing St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. (1924-2022), an American NASA engineer and flight director who played a crucial role in the early years of the United States space program.
Throughout the centuries, the name Cristopher has remained popular in various cultures and languages, with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation. Its rich history and association with Christianity have contributed to its enduring appeal as a given name.
People
Cristopher + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cristopher 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
Cristopher: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cristopher?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,474 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cristopher 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 29,872 US residents.
Is Cristopher a common name?
We classify Cristopher 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, 11,770 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cristopher most popular?
The single biggest year for Cristopher was 2007, when 576 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cristopher is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cristopher in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,199 people with the name Cristopher, or 3.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,433 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 Cristopher 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 Cristopher?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cristopher appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,195 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 Cristopher?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cristopher is Hispanic at 70.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.3%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Cristopher most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Cristopher in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.0% (7,138 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 Cristopher in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cristopher a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cristopher 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 Cristopher still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cristopher 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 Cristopher 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 named Cristopher?
See how many people share the name Cristopher on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.