Christopher is a derived form of the ancient Greek name Christophoros or Christophorus, consisting of ‘Christós’ (‘Christ’ or ‘anointed one’) and ‘phérein’ (‘to bear’), which is why Christopher means ‘Christ-bearer’.
Christopher is a male first name. In very rare cases it is also used for girls.
The first name Christopher is one of the top 100 most popular boys names in the US – currently at #38 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Christopher, accounting for approximately 0.50 % of all newborn boys. In total, there are currently 2,045,927 people – children, adults and seniors – named Christopher living in the United States, which is approximately 0.61 % of the entire population.
Christopher is a derived form of the ancient Greek name Christophoros or Christophorus, consisting of ‘Christós’ (‘Christ’ or ‘anointed one’) and ‘phérein’ (‘to bear’), which is why Christopher means ‘Christ-bearer’.
The Notorious B.I.G. (1972 - 1997)
The name Christopher George Latore Wallace won't be familiar to many people. Wallace is better known under his alias 'The Notorious B.I.G.', one of the most important rappers of the 1990s. 'The Rolling Stone' as well as 'Billboard' and 'The Source' classified him as 'the best rapper of all time'
Christopher Lloyd (*1938)
With his film role Dr. Emmett 'Doc' Brown in the 'Back to the Future' trilogy (1985 – 1990) actor Christopher Lloyd achieved iconic status in the 80s. He debuted alongside Jack Nicholson in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest' (1975) and quickly rose to be a well-known movie star. He also starred in the 'Addams Family' movies (1991 – 1993), and appeared in many other films and television shows such as 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' (1988) or 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' (2014).
Christopher Nolan (*1970)
Christopher Nolan, not to be confused with Irish author and poet Christopher Nolan (1965 - 2009), is a British-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Among his most notable and comercially successful works are the 'Dark Knight' trilogy (2005
Chris Jericho (*1970)
Christopher Keith Irvine, commonly known as Chris Jericho, is a Canadian professional wrestler, musician, and media personality. As a wrestler, he held the Intercontinental Championship a total of ten times and was the first Undisputed Champion in WWE history and won multiple other championships. Further, he is the frontman of the heavy metal band 'Fozzy' with which he tours worldwide. He appeared in television shows and films (e. g. 'Dancing With the Stars', 2011), and wrote several books.
When you hear the name Christopher, you might first think of people. But did you know that there are also places with the name Christopher? Are you also called Christopher? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...
Christopher Street in Manhatten, New York City. Due to the 'Stonewall riots' it became the epicenter of the world
the Sir Christopher Wren Building at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is the oldest college building in continuous use in the U.S..
at Christopher Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a recreational lake in a boreal forest ecozone. You get access via Highways 953 and 263.
there is a small town called Christopher. It counts about 2,700 inhabitants and was founded in 1879 as a railstop. It is named for Christopher Harrison, a settler's grandson.
History tends to focus on the most famous and the best. But even those who play second fiddle leave their mark: Christopher is one of those names without which the orchestra would be incomplete. In fact, it has reached the SmartGenius top ranking #2 more than once, although the last time was some while ago, towards the end of the past century in 1994. But even though the peak of popularity was a few decades ago, the name Christopher has been given to newborn boys every year since records began. Christopher is a name of exceptional, enduring popularity, conveying the special vibes of the 80s and 90s of the 20th century.
In years where the graph has no value, the name Christopher was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.
The popularity of the name Christopher may have peaked some time ago, but the name has still made it into the 21st century. In 2022, it ranked #59 in our statistics - perhaps a far cry from when your grandparents and parents were much younger and Christopher made it into the top ten more than once, but still: traditional names often prove to be perennial favorites, so perhaps it is only a matter of time before Christopher reaches its peak again.
Regardless of where you live in the US, chances are you know someone called Christopher. Because: There are men and boys named Christopher in every state in the USA. If this does not sound particularly spectacular to you, you should know that of the nearly 50,000 different male first names that occur in the USA, only 386 are recorded in each individual state, so the name Christopher is definitely something very special. In some regions it even makes it into the top 10 of the most popular male first names, for example in Nevada, where Christopher ranks on place 5, making it one of the most common male first names in the entire state. The greatest chance of meeting Christopher, however, is in Alaska, where one in 55 boys and men bears this beautiful name – that is far above average – in the entire USA it is only one in 82 men and boys and in South Dakota, where the name is least represented in relation to the population, you even have to ask an average of 127 men and boys for their name before you once get Christopher as an answer.
Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter C is a frequent initial letter for boys’ names. This is because 5.2% of all common boys’ names in the US begin with this letter. The most common first letters of boys' names, by the way, are J, A and D.
With eleven letters, the name Christopher is obviously a particularly long first name. Only 0.5% of all common first names in the U.S. contain exactly eleven letters, and only 0.1% are longer. Most first names – over 99% – have fewer letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long with no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.
With 5.2% of all boys' names that begin with a C, this first letter is thus much more common than the average of all letters. And which boys’ name beginning with C do you think is the most common in the US? The answer is... Charles.
If you take all the letters in the name Christopher – C, h, r, i, s, t, o, p, h, e and r – and put them together again, you can form other names, such as Christopehr or others.
If your name is Christopher and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...
So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Christopher, you can simply say:
Cat
Hat
Rocket
Igloo
Sun
Tiger
Orange
Pig
Hat
Elephant
Rocket
Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.
Christopher
Christopher
Just use American Sign Language!
These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.
C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R
In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.
C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R
In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Christopher sounds like this:
