Chriss
Masculine · “anointed”
Chriss is given to both — 528 boys and 150 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
The X in Xmas is not a secularization. It is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christos, and scribes have used it as an abbreviation for two thousand years. The chi-rho monogram is on Roman coins from the fourth century. The complaint about it is about eight hundred years younger than the practice.
How old is the name Chriss?
Chriss first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Chriss alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 400 people named Chriss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Chriss most popular?
Chriss peaked in 1961, reaching #1876 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 10,132 places below that high. See the whole 1961 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From christos to Chriss
The story of Chriss
Greek Christos begins with chi and rho, and the two letters superimposed make one of the oldest Christian symbols. Constantine put it on his soldiers' shields. Manuscripts used chi alone as shorthand for Christ for centuries, and Xmas is recorded in English from the sixteenth century and Xpian, for Christian, earlier still. So the letter is not standing in for the word; it is the word, in the alphabet it was written in. The doubled s at the end of this spelling is a smaller matter but equally regular: English marks a short vowel by doubling the consonant after it, which is why the clipped forms of names come out as Jess, Bess, Russ and Chriss.
Meaning
anointed
A clipped form of Christopher or Christian, from Greek christos, anointed — itself a translation of Hebrew mashiach. The doubled s at the end is regular English: a clipped name with a short vowel doubles its final consonant, as in Jess, Bess and Russ.
How the name formed
- christos
- Christopher
- Chris
- Chriss
Pronouncing Chriss
KRIS
One syllable. Chris and Chriss are said identically; the doubled s is a spelling convention and changes nothing you can hear.
Nicknames for Chriss
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
- 196216 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1876reached in 1961
- Change vs 2024
- −54.5%5 in 2025, from 11
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.
Chrisss among us
people named Chriss are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Chriss
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Chriss
- #12008
- Chriss on the 2025 chart
- #918
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Chriss went to 5 boys in 2025, but Criss is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 10, which makes it the 918th most-given boys’ name of the year — 11,090 places above the chart.
- Chriss5
- Criss5
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 341,615 for Chriss 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
The Rolan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Chriss's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rolan climbed just as high around 1923, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rolan's path sketches the road Chriss is walking now.
Chriss 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
Chriss beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Chriss in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Greek meaning traceable through to Hebrew.
- One syllable, which carries well and cannot be misheard.
- It serves either child, and the records show both.
- Chris is overwhelmingly the standard spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- It is a clipped form used as a full name, which reads as informal on paper.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
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Chriss
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Chrisss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Chriss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Chriss?
- Chriss is the most-used spelling in US records — 5 of the 10 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Criss.
- How popular is the name Chriss in 2025?
- Chriss ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Chriss?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Chriss — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Chriss with classmates?
- Chriss will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Chriss
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Chriss? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Chriss and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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