Meaning and history
Christian comes from medieval Latin Christianus, meaning "a Christian" (see Christos 1). Used for both males and females in medieval England, it became common there only in the 17th century. Ten Danish kings have borne the name since the 15th century. It ranked in France's top ten through much of the 1940s and 1950s, led the German rankings for several years in the 1970s and 1980s, and peaked in the United States around the late 1990s and early 2000s. Notable bearers include Danish fairy-tale author Hans Christian Andersen and French fashion designer Christian Dior.
20062006: 14,487 births, rank #21
2007: 14,063 births, rank #22
2008: 13,069 births, rank #23
2009: 12,657 births, rank #23
2010: 11,110 births, rank #29
20112011: 10,334 births, rank #30
2012: 9,640 births, rank #33
2013: 9,352 births, rank #35
2014: 8,480 births, rank #42
2015: 8,220 births, rank #43
20162016: 7,674 births, rank #46
2017: 7,025 births, rank #52
2018: 6,582 births, rank #54
2019: 5,781 births, rank #57
2020: 5,104 births, rank #62
20212021: 4,636 births, rank #71
2022: 4,486 births, rank #73
2023: 4,158 births, rank #77
2024: 4,272 births, rank #77
20252025: 3,641 births, rank #96
Christian has unusual staying power. It appears in the US records as early as 1880 and still ranks #96 for boys in 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 2000, with 16,059 births.