Cristobal
Masculine · “Christ-bearer”
Cristobal is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 7,990 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Cristóbal is the Spanish of Christopher — Christ-bearer — and it is the name Spanish gives to Columbus, whom the rest of the world calls something else entirely.
How old is the name Cristobal?
Cristobal first appears in US birth records in 1908 — 117 years ago. The typical Cristobal alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 7,200 people named Cristobal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cristobal most popular?
Cristobal peaked in 2001, reaching #708 nationally. Today it ranks #1609, 901 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Cristobal appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Christophoros to Cristobal
The story of Cristobal
Cristóbal Colón is how Spanish names the Genoese navigator, and the name has been standard across Spain and Latin America for centuries; Cristóbal Balenciaga carried it into fashion. Spanish-speaking families brought it to the United States, where it appears steadily in the registers and is in current use.
Meaning
Christ-bearer
Through Christopher, from the Greek Christos and pherein, 'to carry'. The legend of the giant who carried a child across a river and found him impossibly heavy grew out of the name rather than the other way round. The Greek is transparent and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- Christophoros
- Christopher
- Cristóbal
Related forms: Cristóbal · Cristóvão · Cristoforo · Christopher
Pronouncing Cristobal
krees-TOH-bahl
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Spanish marks it Cristóbal; the accent is routinely dropped in American records.
Nicknames for Cristobal
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
- 1908
- Most boys named
- 2006183 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #708reached in 2001
- Change vs 2023
- −21.1%105 in 2025, from 133
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.
Cristobal in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cristóbal in Spanish — same name
- Cristóvão in Portuguese — related form
- Cristoforo in Italian — related form
- Christopher in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Cristobals among us
people named Cristobal are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,267 born in 2025 was named Cristobal
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 Terrill test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cristobal's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Terrill climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Terrill's path sketches the road Cristobal is walking now.
Cristobal 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 Cristobal is headed
Cristobal should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Cristobal beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cristobal in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Christ-bearer meaning is transparent and the legend behind it is genuinely good.
- It is standard across Spanish without any change of spelling.
- Christopher is available as an English equivalent.
- The accent is dropped in American records, which loses the marked stress.
- Three syllables make it long for everyday use.
- The Columbus association is strong and now contested.
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What they receive
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Cristobal
Masculine · #1609 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cristobals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,200 people named Cristobal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cristobal in 2025?
- Cristobal ranks #1609 among US boy names in 2025, with 105 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cristobal?
- About 1 in every 16,267 US boys born in 2025 was named Cristobal — 105 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cristobal with classmates?
- Cristobal will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cristobal
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zade#1609 · Valen#1609 · Keagan#1609 · Steve#1609 · Phineas#1609 · Cru#1609 · Karam#1609 · Destin#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cristobal? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cristobal and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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