Christopher

Christopher is the 1,369th most common surname in the United States, shared by 25,312 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 11,800.

By the numbers

People: 25,312
Rank: 1,369th
How common: 1 in 11,800
Per 100,000: 8.5

Where the name comes from

Origin a patronymic

From Latin Christophorus, from Koine Greek Χρῑστόφορος (“carrier of Christ”), from Ancient Greek Χριστός (“Christ”) + φόρος (“carrier, bearer”), from φέρειν (“to carry, to bear”) + -ος (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from the legend of Saint Christopher carrying the infant Jesus across a river.

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Christopher described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 70.1%
Black, not Hispanic 19.3%
Hispanic or Latino 4.3%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.9%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 2.0%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.5%

Notable people called Christopher

Warren Christopher (1925–2011)U.S. Secretary of State
Dennis Christopher (born 1950)American actor
Justice Christopher (1981–2022)Nigerian footballer
William Christopher (1932–2016)American actor
Brian Christopher (1972–2018)American professional wrestler
Christopher, Duke of Mecklenburg (1537–1592)Titular duke of Mecklenburg, and administrator of Ratzeburg
Tyler Christopher (born 1983)athletics competitor
Gerard Christopher (born 1959)American actor

People named Christopher with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Christopher

Also a first name

Christopher has been given to 2,079,103 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1984. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.