Christopher
Greek Christophoros, “bearing Christ,” from the legend of the saint carrying the child across a river.
Popularity, 1880–2025
The patron saint of travelers; for most of the 1970s and 1980s it was the perennial No. 2 boys' name behind Michael.
Christopher appears in the national records from the very first year, 1880. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American boys in every year from 1949 to 2025. It spent 43 years inside the top 10. Its biggest year was 1984, when 60,021 newborn boys received the name, ranking it No. 2 nationally. In 2025 it ranked No. 68 for boys. All told, 2,079,103 Americans have been given the name since 1880.
Related names
Other spellings on record: Kristopher (63,548), Cristopher (11,898), Kristofer (9,791), Cristofer (4,323), Kristoffer (3,940), Christofer (3,856) (total births since 1880)
Other names that share a story: Chris, Christy, Kristi, Kristy, Christie
Explore Christopher interactively →By the decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 752 | No. 142 |
| 1890s | 668 | No. 157 |
| 1900s | 484 | No. 257 |
| 1910s | 1,960 | No. 289 |
| 1920s | 2,862 | No. 331 |
| 1930s | 2,731 | No. 292 |
| 1940s | 15,865 | No. 81 |
| 1950s | 78,333 | No. 35 |
| 1960s | 237,144 | No. 7 |
| 1970s | 475,423 | No. 2 |
| 1980s | 554,863 | No. 2 |
| 1990s | 360,287 | No. 2 |
| 2000s | 203,372 | No. 5 |
| 2010s | 102,156 | No. 13 |
| 2020s | 32,696 | No. 47 |
Births and rank shown for boys, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.
🍼 Enjoying this? Buy my baby a diaper
Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.