Meaning and history
Sebastián comes from the Latin name Sebastianus, meaning “from Sebaste,” a city in Asia Minor whose name derives from Greek σεβαστός (sebastos), “venerable,” itself a translation of Latin Augustus, the title of the Roman emperors. In Christian tradition, Saint Sebastian was a 3rd-century Roman soldier martyred under Diocletian after being exposed as a Christian; he was tied to a stake and shot with arrows, survived, was healed by Saint Irene of Rome, and then returned to confront Diocletian, who ordered him beaten to death. Because of the saint’s popularity, the name became common in medieval Europe, especially in Spain and France, and it was also borne by a 16th-century king of Portugal who died in a crusade against Morocco.
20062006: 6,287 births, rank #76
2007: 6,274 births, rank #73
2008: 6,041 births, rank #74
2009: 5,993 births, rank #70
2010: 6,366 births, rank #68
20112011: 6,551 births, rank #68
2012: 6,744 births, rank #64
2013: 7,553 births, rank #46
2014: 9,315 births, rank #34
2015: 9,632 births, rank #35
20162016: 10,309 births, rank #23
2017: 10,197 births, rank #23
2018: 10,137 births, rank #18
2019: 9,884 births, rank #18
2020: 9,029 births, rank #19
20212021: 8,932 births, rank #19
2022: 9,403 births, rank #13
2023: 8,892 births, rank #13
2024: 8,593 births, rank #14
20252025: 8,605 births, rank #16
Sebastian has made a dramatic comeback. After first appearing in the US records in 1881, it fell to #983 by 1949, before climbing to #16 in 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 2016, with 10,309 births.