Sebastain
Masculine · “Greek Sebastianos”
Sebastian means from Sebaste, and Sebaste is Augustus in Greek. When the emperor took the title Augustus, venerable, Greek-speaking cities translated it as Sebastos and renamed themselves after it. So the name means belonging to the city named for the emperor's honorific, three steps from anything concrete.
How old is the name Sebastain?
Sebastain first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Sebastain alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 500 people named Sebastain are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sebastain most popular?
Sebastain peaked in 1962, reaching #2848 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 5,395 places below that high. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sebastos to Sebastain
The story of Sebastain
Augustus is not a name but a title, conferred on Octavian by the Senate in 27 BC, and its Greek equivalent sebastos comes from a verb meaning to revere. Greek cities in the east renamed themselves Sebaste as a gesture of loyalty, including Samaria in Palestine, which Herod rebuilt and renamed, and a city in Pontus. Anyone from those places could be called Sebastianos, and the name entered the Christian record through a Roman officer executed under Diocletian who became one of the most painted saints in European art, chiefly because his martyrdom involved arrows and gave painters an excuse for an undraped male figure. The chain from the name to its meaning has three links and none of them is visible: a title, a translation of it, a city named for it, and a person from the city.
Meaning
Greek Sebastianos, of Sebaste
From Greek sebastos, venerable or august, the standard translation of the Latin imperial title Augustus. Several cities were renamed Sebaste in the emperor's honor, and Sebastianos means a person from one of them. Saint Sebastian, martyred at Rome around 288, made the name a Christian one. Sebastain is an American respelling with the last two vowels transposed. It peaks in 1962.
How the name formed
- sebastos
- Sebastianos
- Sebastian
- Sebastain
Related forms: Sebastian · Sebastian · Sebastien
Pronouncing Sebastain
seh-BAS-chun
Three or four syllables, stress on the second. Identical to Sebastian; the transposed vowels are inaudible. Spanish says seh-bahs-tee-AHN with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Sebastain
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
- 1918
- Most boys named
- 200224 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2848reached in 1962
- Change vs 2024
- +28.6%9 in 2025, from 7
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.
Sebastain in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sebastian in English — spelling variant
- Sebastian in Spanish — same name
- Sebastien in French — same name
Sebastains among us
people named Sebastain are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Sebastain
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 Heberto test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sebastain's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Heberto climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Heberto's path sketches the road Sebastain is walking now.
Sebastain 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
Sebastain beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sebastain in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is documented back to a Roman imperial title.
- Seb and Baz are two very different short forms.
- The name is recognized across the whole of Europe.
- Sebastian is the standard spelling by an enormous margin.
- The transposition is inaudible and will be corrected constantly.
- Spanish and English stress the name differently.
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What they receive
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Sebastain
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sebastains are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Sebastain are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sebastain in 2025?
- Sebastain ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sebastain?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Sebastain — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sebastain with classmates?
- Sebastain will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sebastain
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sebastain? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sebastain and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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