Sixto
Masculine · “polished”
The Sistine Chapel is named after this name. Sixtus IV built it in the 1470s and it took his name; Michelangelo painted the ceiling for a later pope. Sixto is the Spanish form of the same word, and the word is probably not the number six.
How old is the name Sixto?
Sixto first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Sixto alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 1,400 people named Sixto are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sixto most popular?
Sixto peaked in 1964, reaching #1487 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 5,316 places below that high. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Xystos to Sixto
The story of Sixto
Three popes of the first three centuries are recorded as Xystus in Greek sources and Sixtus in Latin ones, and the shift in spelling is where the numeral reading came from; once the name looked like sextus it was read as sextus. Five later popes took the name, including Sixtus IV, who commissioned the chapel that carries it, and Sixtus V, who rebuilt much of Rome. Spanish and Portuguese took the name as Sixto, and it entered United States records with Mexican and Filipino families, reaching its best year in 1964. It has always been rare in English-speaking use.
Meaningscholars disagree
polished, smoothed
Two derivations compete. The Greek Xystos, polished or smoothed, from a verb meaning to scrape, is the older and better-supported one, and the earliest popes of the name are recorded as Xystus. The Latin sextus, sixth, is a later reinterpretation encouraged by the spelling, and it is the reading most people assume. The Greek is the likelier source.
How the name formed
- Xystos
- Xystus
- Sixtus
- Sixto
Related forms: Sixto · Sisto · Sisto · Sixte
Pronouncing Sixto
SEEKS-toh
Two syllables with the stress on the first. The x is a full ks cluster; English speakers say SIKS-toh, which is close enough.
Nicknames for Sixto
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 199437 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1487reached in 1964
- Change vs 2023
- +140.0%12 in 2025, from 5
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.
Sixto in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sixto in Spanish — same name
- Sisto in Italian — same name
- Sisto in Portuguese — same name
- Sixte in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Sixtos among us
people named Sixto are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Sixto
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 Roberta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sixto's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Roberta climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Roberta's path sketches the road Sixto is walking now.
Sixto 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
Sixto beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sixto in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five popes and one of the most famous rooms in the world attached to the name.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no spelling difficulty in Spanish.
- Genuinely rare while being easy to say.
- Everyone will assume it means sixth, and it probably does not.
- Sisto and Sixto are both used and split the records.
- It reads as an older generation's name across the Spanish-speaking world.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Sixto
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sixtos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Sixto are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sixto in 2025?
- Sixto ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sixto?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Sixto — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sixto with classmates?
- Sixto will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sixto
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sixto? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sixto and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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