Chad
Masculine · “battle”
Chad is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 240,728 boys against 1,039 girls since 1880. See Chad as a girl name
Chad is an Anglo-Saxon bishop, a central African country and a scrap of paper. The three have nothing to do with one another, and the last of them turned the name into a household word for a few weeks in the winter of 2000, when the outcome of an American presidential election depended on whether small pieces of card were fully detached.
How old is the name Chad?
Chad first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Chad alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 222,000 people named Chad are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Chad most popular?
Chad peaked in 1972, reaching #25 nationally. Today it ranks #1699, 1,674 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Where it comes from
From a seventh-century Mercian bishop called Ceadda to Chad
The story of Chad
The word for the scrap punched out of a card has no agreed origin. Printers and telegraph operators were using it by the middle of the last century; suggestions include a Scots dialect word for gravel, an acronym, a company name and simple onomatopoeia, and none has ever been demonstrated. It sat in a technical vocabulary for fifty years, entirely unknown to the public, until a recount in Florida turned on whether a chad that was hanging by one corner counted as a vote. For about a month it was the most-used new word in America, and then it went back to the printers.
Meaningscholars disagree
battle, most likely
The Old English name Ceadda is probably built on a British word rather than a Germanic one — the element behind it may be the Welsh word for battle — which would make it a rare case of an Anglo-Saxon bishop carrying a name from the people the Anglo-Saxons had displaced. The African country is unrelated and takes its name from the lake, which comes from a local word meaning a large expanse of water. The paper is unrelated to both and nobody knows where it came from.
How the name formed
- a seventh-century Mercian bishop called Ceadda
- the name survives in English place names and dedications
- a central African lake gives its name to a country
- a punched-card term enters printing vocabulary
- the name peaks in American use in the early 1970s
Related forms: Ceadda · Cad
Pronouncing Chad
CHAD
One syllable, rhyming with had. There is no other way to read it in English, and the African country is said the same way.
Nicknames for Chad
Moderate
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 197312,886 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #25reached in 1972
- Change vs 2023
- −11.1%96 in 2025, from 108
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.
Chad in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ceadda in Old English — same name
- Cad in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, Ohio.
Chads among us
people named Chad are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 17,792 born in 2025 was named Chad
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Bruce test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Chad's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bruce climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bruce's path sketches the road Chad is walking now.
Chad sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Chad is headed
Chad is easing off slowly — about 26% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Chad beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Chad in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, one syllable, and impossible to misspell or mispronounce.
- It has a genuine Anglo-Saxon saint behind it with a documented life.
- It suits a man as well as a boy, which short names do not always manage.
- The name has picked up an unflattering internet stereotype in the last decade.
- It is closely dated to the 1970s in America and reads as a father's name.
- There is nothing to shorten and nothing to lengthen.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Chad to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Chad? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Chad
Masculine · #1699 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Chads are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 222,000 people named Chad are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Chad in 2025?
- Chad ranks #1699 among US boy names in 2025, with 96 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Chad?
- About 1 in every 17,792 US boys born in 2025 was named Chad — 96 in all.
- Will my child share the name Chad with classmates?
- Chad will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Chad
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Niall#1699 · Judd#1699 · Aviraj#1699 · Ghaith#1699 · Levy#1699 · Avian#1699 · Josh#1699 · Ramir#1699
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Chad? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Chad and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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