How popular is the baby name Christopher in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Christopher.

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Popularity of the baby name Christopher


Posts that mention the name Christopher

Baby name story: Elloebee

Legion of Boom (Seattle Seahawks)
Legion of Boom

First there was 12th Mann, and now there’s Elloebee.

A baby girl born on September 20 was given the Seahawks-inspired name Elloebee — a spelled-out version of the acronym L.O.B., which stands for “Legion of Boom.”

Here’s how her father, Christopher, explained it on Facebook (via KING 5): “We are big Seahawks fans and when we were thinking of names for our daughter, we wanted something that stood for strength and resilience. We named her Elloebee, after the LOB!”

L.O.B. refers to anyone who has played defensive back for Seattle Seahawks since 2012, which is when the term “Legion of Boom” was coined.

(Here are a few more baby names spelled with the names of letters.)

Source: O’Neill, Jennifer. “Football-Themed Baby Name Provokes Online Critics.” Yahoo News 5 Oct. 2015.

Image: Adapted from Legion of Boom by Mike Morris under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Popular boy names: Biblical vs. Non-Biblical

How has the ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names changed over time (if at all) among the most popular baby names in the U.S.?

This question popped into my head recently, so I thought I’d take a look at the data. We’ll do boy names today and girl names tomorrow.

First, let’s set some parameters. For these posts, “Biblical” names are personal names (belonging to either humans or archangels) mentioned in the Bible, plus all derivatives of these names, plus any other name with a specifically Biblical origin (e.g., Jordan, Sharon, Genesis). The “most popular” names are the top 20, and “over time” is the span of a century.

For boy names, the ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names has basically flipped over the last 100 years. Here’s a visual — Biblical names are in the yellow cells, non-Biblical names are in the green cells, and a borderline name (which I counted as non-Biblical) is in the orange cell:

Popular boy names: Biblical vs. non-Biblical.
Popular boy names over time: Biblical (yellow) vs. non-Biblical. Click to enlarge.
  • Biblical names: Adam, Alexander, Andrew, Austin (via Augustus), Benjamin, Daniel, David, Elijah, Ethan, Jack (via John), Jackson (via John), Jacob, James, Jason, John, Jonathan, Joseph, Joshua, Justin (via Justus), Lucas, Mark, Matthew, Michael, Nathan, Nicholas, Noah, Paul, Stephen, Steven, Thomas, Timothy, Zachary
  • Non-Biblical names: Aiden, Albert, Anthony, Arthur, Billy, Brandon, Brian, Charles, Christopher, Dennis, Donald, Dylan, Edward, Eric, Frank, Gary, George, Harold, Harry, Henry, Jayden, Jeffrey, Kenneth, Kevin, Larry, Liam, Logan, Louis, Mason, Raymond, Richard, Robert, Ronald, Ryan, Scott, Tyler, Walter, William
  • Borderline name: Jerry (can be based on the Biblical name Jeremy/Jeremiah or on the non-Biblical names Jerome, Gerald, Gerard)

It felt strange putting an overtly Christian name like Christopher in the non-Biblical category, but it doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible, so…that’s where it goes.

Here are the year-by-year tallies:

YearTop 20 names
given to…		# Biblical# Non-Biblical
191440% of baby boys5 (25%)15 (75%)
192443% of baby boys6 (30%)14 (70%)
193443% of baby boys7 (35%)13 (65%)
194447% of baby boys7 (35%)13 (65%)
195446% of baby boys11 (55%)9 (45%)
196442% of baby boys11 (55%)9 (45%)
197438% of baby boys11 (55%)9 (45%)
198436% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)
199427% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)
200419% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)
201414% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)

But there’s a huge difference between sample sizes of 40% and 14%, so let’s also take a look at the 2014 top 100, which covers 42% of male births.

By my count, last year’s top 100 boy names were half Biblical, half non-Biblical:

Biblical names (49)Non-Biblical names (51)
Noah, Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Alexander, James, Daniel, Elijah, Benjamin, Matthew, Jackson (via John), David, Lucas, Joseph, Andrew, Samuel, Gabriel, Joshua, John, Luke, Isaac, Caleb, Nathan, Jack (via John), Jonathan, Levi, Jaxon (via John), Julian (via Julius), Isaiah, Eli, Aaron, Thomas, Jordan, Jeremiah, Nicholas, Evan, Josiah, Austin (via Augustus), Jace (via Jason), Jason, Jose, Ian, Adam, Zachary, Jaxson (via John), Asher, Nathaniel, Justin (via Justus), JuanLiam, Mason, William, Logan, Aiden, Jayden, Anthony, Carter, Dylan, Christopher, Oliver, Henry, Sebastian, Owen, Ryan, Wyatt, Hunter, Christian, Landon, Charles, Connor, Cameron, Adrian, Gavin, Robert, Brayden, Grayson, Colton, Angel, Dominic, Kevin, Brandon, Tyler, Parker, Ayden, Chase, Hudson, Nolan, Easton, Blake, Cooper, Lincoln, Xavier, Bentley, Kayden, Carson, Brody, Ryder, Leo, Luis, Camden

(Christian, Angel, Xavier, Dominic…all technically non-Biblical, despite having strong ties to Christianity.)

50%-50% isn’t quite as extreme as 70%-30%, but it’s still noticeably more Biblical than 1914’s 25%-75%.

Do any of these results surprise you?

Which baby names can be split in two?

split logs

In 1916, the London Globe mentioned twins named Jere and Miah:

There lived for many years in the village of Twerton, Bath, one named Miah. He was born a twin, and his parents thriftily divided the predestined name of Jeremiah between them, the other babe being christened Jere.

What other names could we divide into two usable mini-names like this?

Here are a few ideas to kick things off…

Abigail, Abi + Gail
Anastasia, Ana + Stasia
Calista, Cal + Ista
Drusilla, Dru + Silla
Elizabeth, Eliza + Beth
Mozelle, Mo + Zelle
Valentina, Valen + Tina		Alexander, Alex + Ander
Christopher, Chris + Topher
Denzel, Den + Zel
Donovan, Dono + Van
Joseph, Jo + Seph
Rexford, Rex + Ford
William, Wil + Liam

…what others can you think of?

Source: “Some Odd Christian Names.” Bee [Earlington, KY] 8 Dec. 1916: 8.

Image: Adapted from TS 2016-09-15-3252 by teteria sonnna under CC BY 2.0.

Popular baby names in the United States, 2014

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

Emma and Noah were the most popular baby names in the United States in 2014.

Here’s the top 10:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emma, 20799 baby girls
2. Olivia, 19674
3. Sophia, 18490
4. Isabella, 16950
5. Ava, 15586
6. Mia, 13442
7. Emily, 12562
8. Abigail, 11985
9. Madison, 10247
10. Charlotte, 10048		1. Noah, 19144 baby boys
2. Liam, 18342
3. Mason, 17092
4. Jacob, 16712
5. William, 16687
6. Ethan, 15619
7. Michael, 15323
8. Alexander, 15293
9. James, 14301
10. Daniel, 13829

Noah remained the #1 boy name, and Emma replaced Sophia as the #1 girl name.

On the girls’ side, Charlotte replaced Elizabeth (now 14th). Elizabeth hasn’t dipped this low since the late 1970s.

On the boys’ side, James replaced Jayden (now 15th). James was last in the top 10 in the early 1990s.

Here’s the rest of the top 50:

Girl NamesBoy Names
11. Harper, 9564
12. Sofia, 9542
13. Avery, 9517
14. Elizabeth, 9492
15. Amelia, 8727
16. Evelyn, 8692
17. Ella, 8489
18. Chloe, 8469
19. Victoria, 7955
20. Aubrey, 7589
21. Grace, 7554
22. Zoey, 7358
23. Natalie, 7061
24. Addison, 6950
25. Lillian, 6869
26. Brooklyn, 6767
27. Lily, 6727
28. Hannah, 6512
29. Layla, 6428
30. Scarlett, 5965
31. Aria, 5893
32. Zoe, 5828
33. Samantha, 5680
34. Anna, 5639
35. Leah, 5563
36. Audrey, 5531
37. Ariana, 5461
38. Allison, 5440
39. Savannah, 5433
40. Arianna, 5240
41. Camila, 5194
42. Penelope, 5062
43. Gabriella, 5051
44. Claire, 4991
45. Aaliyah, 4850
46. Sadie, 4823
47. Riley, 4761
48. Skylar, 4732
49. Nora, 4708
50. Sarah, 4647		11. Elijah, 13694
12. Benjamin, 13687
13. Logan, 13579
14. Aiden, 13296
15. Jayden, 12878
16. Matthew, 12809
17. Jackson, 12121
18. David, 12078
19. Lucas, 12078
20. Joseph, 11995
21. Anthony, 11490
22. Andrew, 11069
23. Samuel, 10859
24. Gabriel, 10826
25. Joshua, 10764
26. John, 10600
27. Carter, 10599
28. Luke, 10431
29. Dylan, 10350
30. Christopher, 10278
31. Isaac, 9868
32. Oliver, 9365
33. Henry, 9350
34. Sebastian, 9237
35. Caleb, 9143
36. Owen, 9100
37. Ryan, 9026
38. Nathan, 8902
39. Wyatt, 8812
40. Hunter, 8759
41. Jack, 8685
42. Christian, 8388
43. Landon, 8180
44. Jonathan, 8035
45. Levi, 7958
46. Jaxon, 7635
47. Julian, 7611
48. Isaiah, 7530
49. Eli, 7428
50. Aaron, 7334

On the girls’ side, Ariana, Penelope, Skylar and Nora (previously ranked 54th, 56th, 73rd and 82nd) are new to the top 50. They replaced Hailey, Kaylee, Alexis and Nevaeh (now ranked 51st, 52nd, 64th and 65th).

On the boys’s side, Oliver and Aaron (previously ranked 52nd and 51st) are new to the top 50. They replaced Brayden and Gavin (now ranked 62nd and 60th).

The biggest jumps within the top 50 were Scarlett (+12 spots), Sebastian (+11) and Aria (+9).

The biggest drops within the top 50 were Aaliyah (-10), Christian (-7), Ryan (-7) and Nathan (-7).

Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

Aranza jumped an amazing 3,625 spots on the girls’ side to number 607, from number 4,232 in 2013. The Latin soap opera “Por siempre mi amor” was aired on Univision from 2013 to 2015.  The show featured a young lead character named Aranza, and obviously had its effect on naming trends last year.

Bode raced ahead 645 spots, from number 1,428 in 2013 to number 783 in 2014.  This might have had something to do with the Winter Olympics in early 2014, where Bode Miller continued his outstanding alpine skiing career by collecting his sixth Olympic medal.  Not only is he the most successful male American alpine skier of all time, he is considered by many to be an American hero.

The second fastest riser for boys was Axl, a nod to both rock legend Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses and Axl Jack Duhamel, son of Stacy Ann “Fergie” Ferguson and Josh Duhamel.  For girls, Montserrat, the lead character in a very popular Latin soap opera, was number two, joined by another Monserrat (spelled just one letter differently) at number three.  

More posts on the new names coming soon!

U.S. Baby Names 2014: Most popular names, Top girl-name debuts, Top boy-name debuts, Biggest girl-name changes, Biggest boy-name changes, Top first letters, Top lengths

Sources: SSA, Noah and Emma Top Social Security’s List of Most Popular Baby Names for 2014 – SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)