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Chimamanda vs Chistopher

American parents have registered 1,446 Chistophers since 1880, against 541 Chimamandas. But in 2025 it was Chimamanda that was commoner, 28 babies to 7.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Chimamanda against Chistopher, 1880 to 2025 0 15 30 45 60 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Chimamanda Chistopher

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 67 years in which either name was published, Chistopher for 51 years and Chimamanda for 16 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Chimamanda Chistopher
Total US births 5411,446
Most in one year 6059
Babies in 2025 287
Estimated living today 5401,300
Median age today 742
Peak year 20181985
Best rank 2,810th girls1,242nd boys
Rank in 2025 4,758th9,714th
First recorded 20081958
Girls / boys 541 / 00 / 1,446

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Chistophers alive today are over 42; half the Chimamandas are over 7. That is 35 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Chimamanda and Chistopher.