Casper
Masculine
Casper is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,208 boys against 21 girls since 1880.
Casper is the Dutch and Scandinavian spelling of a name that medieval Europe gave to one of the three magi — a name never written in the gospel itself, but attached to the story so firmly that it traveled everywhere the Christmas narrative went. Two clean syllables, stress on the first, and a built-in short form in Cas. It has been on American records since the very beginning of the count, quietly, without ever crowding a classroom.
How old is the name Casper?
Casper was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Casper alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 3,600 people named Casper are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Casper most popular?
Casper peaked in 1889, reaching #332 nationally. Today it ranks #924, 592 places below that high. See the whole 1889 chart.
Where it comes from
From Gaspar to Casper
The story of Casper
The gospel of Matthew describes wise men from the East but names none of them; Western Christian tradition supplied the names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, which appear in Latin sources by around the eighth century. From there the name spread with the feast of Epiphany into nearly every European language — Gaspar in Spain, Gaspare in Italy, Kacper in Poland, Kaspar in the German lands, Casper in Dutch and Scandinavian use. English took the same name along a second route and made it Jasper, which is why the two look unrelated and are not. Dutch and German settlers carried the Casper spelling to America, where it has appeared in the records without interruption ever since counting began.
Meaningscholars disagree
Most often traced to a Persian word for "treasurer"
The usual reading connects it to Persian ganzabara, "treasure-bearer" or "treasurer", by way of the Latin Gaspar. Others read the medieval Latin forms as a rendering of an Aramaic or Hebrew name whose sense is no longer recoverable. Neither reading has closed the case, and the name arrived in Europe already spelled several ways.
How the name formed
- Gaspar
- Caspar
- Casper
- Jasper
Related forms: Kasper · Kacper · Kaspar · Gaspar · Gaspare · Jasper
Pronouncing Casper
KAS-per
Stress on the first syllable. Nothing tricky in English, though the Dutch and Scandinavian versions give the final syllable a lighter, flatter vowel.
Nicknames for Casper
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 2025255 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #332reached in 1889
- Change vs 2022
- +40.9%255 in 2025, from 181
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Casper in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kasper in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian — spelling variant
- Kacper in Polish — spelling variant
- Kaspar in German — spelling variant
- Gaspar in Spanish, Portuguese — same name
- Gaspare in Italian — same name
- Jasper in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Caspers among us
people named Casper are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,698 born in 2025 was named Casper
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Casper
- #924
- Casper on the 2025 chart
- #612
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Casper went to 255 boys in 2025, but Kasper is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 339, which makes it the 612th most-given boys’ name of the year — 312 places above the chart.
- Casper255
- Kasper84
About 1 boy in 5,039 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 6,698 for Casper itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Casper is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Casper is headed
Casper looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 30% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Casper beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Casper in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Familiar to English speakers on sight and by ear, so it is read correctly at first meeting without being a name every class already has.
- Comes with ready-made short forms, chiefly Cas, which has been in real use for generations.
- Works across borders: a Casper is recognizable in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland and Spain, with only the spelling shifting.
- An unbroken American record from the earliest years of name statistics to the present — old, but never out of use.
- Sits beside Jasper and Gaspar as versions of the same name, which gives a family more than one door into it.
- The friendly cartoon ghost has carried this exact spelling since the 1940s comics and the 1995 film, and it is the first association many people will voice. It fades with familiarity, but expect it early and often.
- Casper, Kasper, Kaspar and Caspar all exist, so the spelling will need saying aloud on forms and over the phone.
- Because Jasper is far better known in the US, some people will mishear or default to it — a small, lifelong correction rather than a real problem.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Casper
Masculine · #924 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Caspers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Casper are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Casper?
- Casper is the most-used spelling in US records — 255 of the 339 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kasper.
- How popular is the name Casper in 2025?
- Casper ranks #924 among US boy names in 2025, with 255 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Casper?
- About 1 in every 6,698 US boys born in 2025 was named Casper — 255 in all.
- Will my child share the name Casper with classmates?
- Casper will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Casper
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Neythan#924 · Kiaan#924 · Darian#927 · Caius#927 · Frankie#920 · Aspen#920 · Shmuel#920 · Eitan#920
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Casper? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Casper and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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