The story in the numbers

450,258 boys have been named Christian in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2000, with 16,057 births — 0.82% of all boys recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 42 → 77).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 2001, and the 2000s alone account for 32%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 41 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 19,847 girls have also been given it, 4.2% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Christian

486

404

321

1,119

1,213

876

1,529

3,623

10,215

24,905

30,289

126,058

142,423

84,179

22,618

In 2000, its biggest year

Christian was the 22nd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 2000 were Jacob, Michael, Matthew, Joshua and Christopher. See all of 2000.

Names that rose and fell with Christian

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.