Cristopher
Masculine · “Bearing Christ”
Cristopher is Christopher with one letter set down — the h dropped after the C, the way Spanish and Italian have long written the name: Cristóbal, Cristoforo. Behind both spellings sits a Greek compound meaning "Christ-bearing," and behind that the medieval story of a giant who ferried travelers across a river. Spoken aloud it is the same four syllables everyone already knows.
How old is the name Cristopher?
Cristopher first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Cristopher alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 11,500 people named Cristopher are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cristopher most popular?
Cristopher peaked in 2007, reaching #470 nationally. Today it ranks #1425, 955 places below that high. See the whole 2007 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Christophoros to Cristopher
The story of Cristopher
The name begins as Greek Christophoros, "Christ-bearer," used among early Christians and carried into Latin as Christophorus. The medieval Golden Legend, compiled in the thirteenth century, gave it its lasting image: a giant who carried travelers across a river and one day found the child on his shoulders heavier than the world — which is why Saint Christopher became the patron of travelers and why his medal still hangs in cars. Romance languages dropped the Greek h in writing, producing Spanish Cristóbal, Italian Cristoforo, Portuguese Cristóvão. Cristopher sits exactly on that seam: the English name spelled by the Spanish rule, and in the US it is most at home in Texas, California and Florida.
Meaning
Bearing Christ, Christ-bearer
From Greek Christophoros, combining Christos with the verb pherein, "to carry."
How the name formed
- Christophoros
- Christophorus
- Cristóbal
- Christopher
- Cristopher
Related forms: Christopher · Cristóbal · Cristoforo · Cristóvão · Christophe · Krzysztof
Pronouncing Cristopher
KRIS-tuh-fer
Identical to Christopher in English. Spanish speakers may say krees-TO-fer, with the stress moved to the middle.
Nicknames for Cristopher
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
- 1950
- Most boys named
- 2007576 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #470reached in 2007
- Change vs 2023
- +1.6%126 in 2025, from 124
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.
Cristopher in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Christopher in English — spelling variant
- Cristóbal in Spanish — same name
- Cristoforo in Italian — same name
- Cristóvão in Portuguese — same name
- Christophe in French — same name
- Krzysztof in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Cristophers among us
people named Cristopher are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,556 born in 2025 was named Cristopher
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cristopher
- #1425
- Cristopher on the 2025 chart
- #63
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cristopher went to 126 boys in 2025, but Christopher, Kristopher and Cristofer and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 8 spellings went to 5,209, which makes it the 63rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,362 places above the chart.
- Christopher4,748
- Kristopher172
- Cristopher126
- Cristofer80
- Kristofer31
and 3 rarer spellings.
About 1 boy in 328 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 13,556 for Cristopher 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 Carlo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cristopher's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carlo climbed just as high around 1923, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carlo's path sketches the road Cristopher is walking now.
Cristopher 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 Cristopher is headed
Cristopher 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.
Cristopher beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cristopher in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Sounds like a name everyone already knows, so it never needs explaining out loud — only spelling out.
- Comes with short forms in long-standing use: Cris, Chris, Topher.
- Bridges English and Spanish spelling conventions, sitting comfortably in a family that uses both.
- Rests on a documented line running from Greek through Latin into most European languages.
- The missing h will be restored by other people for life — on forms, in emails, by teachers. Anyone with this spelling learns early to say "Cristopher, no h."
- Spoken, it is indistinguishable from Christopher, a name still strongly represented among adults. The distinctiveness lives entirely on paper.
- Shortened to Chris, it becomes one of the most familiar names in English. That is convenient, and it also means the everyday version won't stand out.
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Cristopher
Masculine · #1425 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cristophers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,500 people named Cristopher are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cristopher?
- Cristopher is one of 5 recorded spellings. Christopher is the more common one — 4,748 births in 2025 against 126 for Cristopher.
- How popular is the name Cristopher in 2025?
- Cristopher ranks #1425 among US boy names in 2025, with 126 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cristopher?
- About 1 in every 13,556 US boys born in 2025 was named Cristopher — 126 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cristopher with classmates?
- Cristopher will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cristopher
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jessie#1425 · Finneas#1425 · Dev#1425 · Jacoby#1425 · Rush#1425 · Aleksander#1425 · Haze#1425 · Zack#1425
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cristopher? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cristopher and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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