Christopher Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Boy Names Like Christopher

Christopher Name Origin: English
Pronunciation: chr(iss)-toh-fer, chr(iss)-tah-fer
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Christopher Name Meaning

A hot name in the U.S. since the 1950s, Christopher is an English variant of the Greek Christophoros. While the name’s use has cooled in recent years, he remains a friendly choice for parents seeking something common but not too popular like today’s Liam or Noah.

Christopher exudes boyhood charm thanks in part to literary darling Christopher Robin, the boy companion in Winnie the Pooh. He’s a name that’s naturally curious, retaining his wonder despite his long standing popularity. Playful and daring, little Christopher is the first to climb to the top of the jungle gym and the last one down.

While maybe not as obvious as his cousin Christian, Christopher is a deeply religious name, meaning “bearing Christ.” He may not appear in the Bible, but he’s a wonderful choice for paying homage to your faith. He’s also a saintly name, with Saint Christopher being the patron saint of the lost traveller. As a protector of travellers, he may be a subtle choice for those globetrotting parents with a case of wanderlust.

Christopher offers up plenty of awesome nicknames including Chris, Topher, Kit, and Chip. He also has quite a few spelling variations with Kristoffer and Kristopher leading the pack.

Christopher Name Popularity

How popular is the name Christopher? Here’s everything we know.

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	306	33	0.0094%
1911	313	39	0.0105%
1912	292	114	0.0226%
1913	330	113	0.0199%
1914	334	155	0.0222%
1915	340	202	0.0222%
1916	338	214	0.0222%
1917	353	206	0.0206%
1918	352	228	0.0212%
1919	372	201	0.0192%
1920	357	237	0.0213%
1921	345	251	0.0219%
1922	339	260	0.0233%
1923	342	259	0.0231%
1924	349	250	0.0215%
1925	351	237	0.021%
1926	362	222	0.0202%
1927	338	253	0.0229%
1928	358	219	0.0205%
1929	366	207	0.02%
1930	357	220	0.0211%
1931	375	189	0.0191%
1932	371	192	0.0194%
1933	389	155	0.0166%
1934	341	217	0.0224%
1935	339	218	0.0224%
1936	337	224	0.0233%
1937	316	248	0.0252%
1938	321	254	0.0248%
1939	301	309	0.0304%
1940	242	465	0.0437%
1941	217	577	0.0513%
1942	195	783	0.062%
1943	183	872	0.0668%
1944	170	969	0.0782%
1945	160	1,118	0.0917%
1946	150	1,584	0.1073%
1947	126	2,259	0.1353%
1948	102	3,021	0.1892%
1949	81	3,991	0.2481%
1950	72	4,828	0.2999%
1951	61	5,724	0.3376%
1952	57	6,296	0.3607%
1953	63	6,066	0.3427%
1954	64	6,074	0.3323%
1955	49	7,905	0.4298%
1956	47	8,372	0.4433%
1957	43	8,966	0.4659%
1958	39	11,076	0.586%
1959	35	12,903	0.6791%
1960	29	15,357	0.8105%
1961	26	17,226	0.9124%
1962	26	17,524	0.9545%
1963	26	18,356	1.0226%
1964	23	19,637	1.1156%
1965	18	24,635	1.5064%
1966	12	27,877	1.7855%
1967	9	29,425	1.939%
1968	9	31,464	2.0954%
1969	7	35,702	2.3174%
1970	6	41,775	2.625%
1971	6	48,234	3.2099%
1972	2	52,187	3.8316%
1973	2	48,322	3.7273%
1974	3	48,610	3.74%
1975	3	46,592	3.6258%
1976	3	45,213	3.5081%
1977	3	46,744	3.4678%
1978	3	47,259	3.5151%
1979	2	50,678	3.5941%
1980	2	49,092	3.3576%
1981	2	50,233	3.4173%
1982	2	59,225	3.9633%
1983	2	59,343	4.0214%
1984	2	60,023	4.0349%
1985	2	59,600	3.9267%
1986	2	56,682	3.7551%
1987	2	54,489	3.5707%
1988	2	52,996	3.4008%
1989	2	53,176	3.2953%
1990	2	52,332	3.1573%
1991	2	47,101	2.8897%
1992	2	42,461	2.6602%
1993	2	38,228	2.452%
1994	2	34,800	2.2676%
1995	3	32,673	2.1679%
1996	4	30,902	2.0638%
1997	4	29,103	1.9677%
1998	5	27,001	1.804%
1999	6	25,603	1.7097%
2000	5	24,931	1.632%
2001	5	23,123	1.5346%
2002	8	21,681	1.4468%
2003	9	20,746	1.3637%
2004	10	19,626	1.2877%
2005	10	19,165	1.2535%
2006	8	19,678	1.2567%
2007	6	20,012	1.2684%
2008	9	17,941	1.1608%
2009	10	16,346	1.0936%
2010	13	14,273	0.9904%
2011	20	12,995	0.9121%
2012	23	11,892	0.8345%
2013	26	10,849	0.762%
2014	30	10,350	0.7104%
2015	32	9,805	0.6739%
2016	36	9,053	0.6279%
2017	38	8,255	0.5915%
2018	42	7,261	0.5285%
2019	44	6,960	0.5141%
2020	46	6,087	0.4782%
2021	52	5,800	0.4745%
2022	53	5,523	0.4186%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Christopher

If you like Christopher, you’ll love these other names like Christopher.

What names are diminutives of Christopher?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Christopher sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Christopher, but shorter.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Chris	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christie	Bearing Christ	Scottish
Christof	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christoph	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christophe	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christos	Follower of Christ; bearing Christ	Latin
Cris	Bearing Christ	Greek
Kester	Bearing Christ	Greek
Kit	Bearing Christ	Greek
Kitt	Bearing Christ	Greek
Kris	A diminutive form of Christopher.	Scandinavian
Kriss	Bearing Christ	Greek
Kristo	Follower of Christ; bearing Christ	Latin
Kristos	Bearing Christ	Greek

Stoffel	Bearing Christ	Greek
Tobal	Bearing Christ	Greek
Topher	Bearing Christ	Greek

What names are variants of Christopher?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Christopher.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Christofer	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christoffer	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christoforo	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christoforus	Bearing Christ	Greek
Christophoros	Bearing Christ	Greek
Cristobal	Bearing Christ	Greek
Cristofer	Bearing Christ	Greek
Cristoforo	Bearing Christ	Greek
Cristopher	Bearing Christ	Greek
Cristovano	Bearing Christ	Greek
Khristopher	Bearing Christ	Scandinavian
Kristofel	Bearing Christ	Greek

Kristofer	Bearing Christ	Scandinavian
Kristoffer	Bearing Christ	Scandinavian
Kristofor	Bearing Christ	Scandinavian
Kristoforos	Bearing Christ	Greek
Kristopher	Bearing Christ	Scandinavian
Krzysztof	Bearing Christ	Scandinavian

What names sound like Christopher?

If you like how Christopher sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Christopher.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Christian	Follower of Christ	Latin
Christmas	Christ festival	French
Craig	Rock, rocky	Scottish
Creed	Belief; guiding principle; I believe	Latin
Crew	Group	Latin
Crispin	Curly-haired	Latin
Crispino	Curly-haired	Latin

What names are similar to Christopher?

Find a name that’s like Christopher, but just a little bit different.

Name	Meaning	Origin	Popularity	Other Gender
Alexander	Defender of man	Greek
Anthony	Unknown meaning	Latin

Benjamin	A favorite son	Hebrew
Charles	Free man	German
Dominic	Of the Lord	Latin
Jeremiah	God will exalt	Hebrew
Lucas	From Lucania	Latin
Matthew	Gift of God	Hebrew
Michael	Who is Like God?	Hebrew
Nathaniel	God has given	Hebrew

Lists With Christopher

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name Christopher.

Siblings of Christopher

Mamas with kids named Christopher also have kids with these names.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Karis	Grace	Greek
Katherine	Pure	Greek
Lily	Lily flower	English
Linnea	Lime or linden tree	Scandinavian
Laylonie
Skylar	Noble scholar	English
Harley	Hare meadow; the long field	English

Luke	From Lucania	Greek
Roselee
Fauve	Wild and uninhibited	French
Elijah	My God is Yahweh	Hebrew
Matthew	Gift of God	Hebrew

Share Your Thoughts

17 Comments

Renee Apr 6 at 11:55 pm

We chose Christopher James after he was born with the baby and my sister in the room. I birthed him on Good Friday in a catholic hospital and I liked that Christ was in the name.
At that moment my husband and I both loved it together which was surprising. We had a really hard time choosing a name we both liked during pregnancy. We didn’t choose my 1st son’s name until we asked him. He essentially became a Junior because he chose it. My husband was against that. He said it would be too confusing. We went through the list we had agreed upon and just kept trying to figure it out. I finally looked at him and said you have to throw in your name. He did and the baby smiled. We couldn’t believe it! We did it again while the baby was fussing and when we hit Matthew James he stopped fussing, we did it a 3rd time and he had no reaction to any other name but his own. He opened his eyes the 3rd time.
We decided to play the same game with Christopher. The baby did the same thing as Matthew. We knew it was a perfect name!
I liked the fact that it had Christ in it. I don’t like that it is my sister’s ex-boyfriend’s name who broke her heart. (My husband and I had completely forgot after my 21 hour labor that we had said no to this name because of my sister and her feelings). If you remember from earlier, she was also in the room with us when we chose the name. We asked her what she thought. She hesitated and made a weird face and then said “I love it”! It was set! We couldn’t believe we never thought of that name…duh! The next day my mother-in-law asked my husband how my sister felt about that name. He said she loved it, Why? She said because of her ex. My husband immediately text her to apologize and I was so upset I thought we should change it. She told me and the baby that we were not to change the name under any circumstance.

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Asia Jun 8 at 9:48 am

My boyfriend and i agreed that for our first born he can name the baby if it was a boy and vice versa for me if it was a girl. He wanted to name the baby after him, which his name is Christopher but he’s a Jr. already so our son is also Christopher but he’s the third(III) :^) I actually have no dislikes for the name Christopher, i like it alot! also like how its shorten to “Chris” as well! Im so in love with my son & im always smiling when i call him by his first name!

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Arainya Nov 12 at 9:50 pm

Christopher came along as I just lived through the lost of my oldest brother who named him after

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Meghan Jul 13 at 8:09 am

He is a great baby no problems with him

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Omoh christopher Dec 17 at 6:37 am

Am bearing the name so i just tink to seach four the name becauses ever body saide the name is lovely

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- Name your girl baby Christopher Ann Sep 3 at 6:06 am
  
  My mother named me Christopher Ann, and everywhere I go they think I’m a boy. It’s great and fun!
  
  Reply
Mama Samantha Adams Sep 22 at 5:00 am

I love the name! I love both of my boys names!

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madison Aug 26 at 9:21 am

He is the Third so it is a family name

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- Asia Jun 8 at 9:53 am
  
  Omg!! Same here!! :^)
  
  Reply
Sara Jul 1 at 11:05 am

We thought of this name in the hospital and he was my firstborn and his name fits his personality.

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Lorena Jun 20 at 9:56 am

I chose the name Christopher because that is my husband’s name

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Corine Dec 11 at 12:34 am

Meaning: Barer of Christ

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- Chris Dec 28 at 4:51 am
  
  Hopefully ‘bearer’.
  
  Reply
Mama Aug 11 at 12:07 pm

I chose the name Christopher because my aunt that passed away a year ago her name was Christina very caring loving outspoken unique women her nick name was Chris and so I just put it together n got Christopher I absolutely love it

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Miracle Aug 2 at 11:25 am

Christopher is my husbands name my son Is a junior.

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Natasha Jun 8 at 11:50 am

I chose this name after his father. This is his first son and we are happy about that name

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Kimberly Apr 11 at 2:18 pm

It means Christ bearer and we prayed that he would be a man of faith.

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Christopher