Sabastian
Masculine · “from Sebaste”
Sabastian is a spelling of Sebastian, a Greek name meaning from Sebaste — and Sebaste itself was a Greek translation of the Latin title Augustus, so the name means, at two removes, venerable.
How old is the name Sabastian?
Sabastian first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Sabastian alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 3,600 people named Sabastian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sabastian most popular?
Sabastian peaked in 2001, reaching #813 nationally. Today it ranks #3450, 2,637 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Sebastos to Sabastian
The story of Sabastian
Sebaste was the Greek name given to several cities renamed for Augustus, and a man from one of them gave the name Sebastianos. A third-century Roman martyr of that name became one of the most painted saints in European art, which spread the name across Catholic Europe. English took it late; American use rose sharply in the 1990s. Sabastian is a phonetic respelling of the first syllable.
Meaning
from Sebaste; venerable
From Greek Sebastianos, a man of Sebaste; the city was renamed in honor of Augustus, whose title was translated into Greek as Sebastos, the venerable one. The name therefore carries an imperial title inside a place name.
How the name formed
- Sebastos
- Sebastianos
- Sebastian
- Sabastian
Related forms: Sebastian · Sebastián · Sébastien · Sebastiano
Pronouncing Sabastian
suh-BAS-chun
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Every spelling of the name sounds the same.
Nicknames for Sabastian
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 2001205 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #813reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- +10.0%33 in 2025, from 30
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.
Sabastian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sebastian in English — spelling variant
- Sebastián in Spanish — same name
- Sébastien in French — same name
- Sebastiano in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Indiana.
Sabastians among us
people named Sabastian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 51,760 born in 2025 was named Sabastian
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 Darell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sabastian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darell climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darell's path sketches the road Sabastian is walking now.
Sabastian 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 Sabastian is headed
Sabastian is easing off slowly — about 30% 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.
Sabastian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sabastian 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 genuinely interesting double history behind it.
- Seb and Bash are both current short forms that work at any age.
- Recognized everywhere in Europe and the Americas.
- Sebastian is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- Nine letters and three syllables is a great deal for early handwriting.
- The sound is widely used, so a classroom may hold more than one.
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What they receive
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Sabastian
Masculine · #3450 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sabastians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Sabastian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sabastian in 2025?
- Sabastian ranks #3450 among US boy names in 2025, with 33 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sabastian?
- About 1 in every 51,760 US boys born in 2025 was named Sabastian — 33 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sabastian with classmates?
- Sabastian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sabastian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Luc#3450 · Deshaun#3450 · Trayvon#3450 · Blade#3450 · Oz#3450 · Josiyah#3450 · Zakariah#3450 · Fausto#3450
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sabastian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sabastian and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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