Christ
Masculine · “anointed”
Christ is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,977 boys against 52 girls since 1880.
Christ is a Greek word rather than a name: it translates the Hebrew term for the anointed one, and it was a title long before it was attached to a person. It appears in nineteenth-century American records in small, steady numbers.
How old is the name Christ?
Christ was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Christ alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 2,100 people named Christ are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Christ most popular?
Christ peaked in 1881, reaching #360 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 3,019 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From mashiach to Christ
The story of Christ
Christos was an ordinary Greek adjective before the Septuagint translators chose it for a specific Hebrew term, and the New Testament writers applied it as a title. It has been used as a personal name in Greece for centuries in the fuller forms Christos and Christodoulos, and in nineteenth-century America chiefly by Greek and Armenian families and as a shortening of Christopher and Christian. It is used in the Philippines as well.
Meaning
anointed
From Greek christos, anointed, which the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible used to render mashiach, the anointed one — the word English also takes as messiah. Anointing with oil marked kings and priests in the Hebrew tradition.
How the name formed
- mashiach
- christos
- Christ
Related forms: Christos · Cristo · Christian
Pronouncing Christ
KRYST
One syllable with a long i in English. Greek Christos is KREE-stos, with a short one.
Nicknames for Christ
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191858 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #360reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- +21.4%34 in 2025, from 28
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.
Christ in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Christos in Greek — related form
- Cristo in Spanish — related form
- Christian in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Florida, California.
Christs among us
people named Christ are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Christ
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Christ
- #3379
- Christ on the 2025 chart
- #881
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Christ went to 34 boys in 2025, but Crist is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 47, which makes it the 881st most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,498 places above the chart.
- Christ34
- Crist13
About 1 boy in 36,342 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 50,238 for Christ 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
Christ 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 Christ is headed
Christ should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Christ beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Christ in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a documented history in Greek and Hebrew alike.
- Chris is available immediately as an entirely ordinary short form.
- Christos and Christian both stand behind it as fuller options.
- In English-speaking countries the word is used almost exclusively of one person, and that is a great deal to carry.
- It is also used as an exclamation in English, which will be awkward.
- Christos and Christian are both far more usual as names and avoid most of this.
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What they receive
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Christ
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Christs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Christ are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Christ?
- Christ is the most-used spelling in US records — 34 of the 47 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Crist.
- How popular is the name Christ in 2025?
- Christ ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Christ?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Christ — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Christ with classmates?
- Christ will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Christ
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Sampson#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Christ? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Christ and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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