What does Christian mean?
Christian [chris-t-ian] as a boys' name (also used less commonly as girls' name Christian) is pronounced KRIS-chen. It is of Latin origin, and the meaning of Christian is "follower of Christ". From Latin Christianus, a girl's name in the Middle Ages that became used as a male name, possibly due to the success of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" (1684), whose hero is called Christian. The name of Christ is from Greek Khristos which is translated from the Hebrew term for "Messiah", meaning "anointed". In Denmark the name has been borne by ten kings since the 15th century. A famous bearer was the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). Actor Christian Slater; French fashion designers Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix; Dr. Christiaan Barnard.
Christian has 25 variants: Chrestien, Chretien, Chris▼, Christan, Christer, Christiaan, Christiano, Christie, Christo, Christos, Christy, Cristen, Cristian, Cristiano▲, Cristino, Criston, Cristos, Cristy, Kit, Kris▼, Krister, Kristian, Kristo, Krystian and Krystiano.Kreatif forms:
(male) Chrischan, Christchan, ..
(female) Christar, Christis, ..
How popular is Christian?
Christian is a very prominent first name for males (#236 out of 1220, Top 19%) and also a very prominent surname for both adults and children (#597 out of 150436, Top 1%). (2000 U.S. Demographics)
Presented below is the birth name history of Christian for boys. Christian reached its peak rank of #21 in the U.S. in 2006, and is currently at #43. (2015 U.S. SSA Records)
Which version is better?with its variant forms and related boy names. Shown below is a study of the history of Christian and affiliated names. Cristian (#270 in 2015), Chris (#507), Kristian (#677), Cristiano (#841), Kris, Krystian, Kit, Christy, Christ, Christiaan, Christie and Christos are the prominent related forms of Christian (#43 in 2015) listed in the Top 2000. These relations of Christian reached the height of their popularity in the year 1996 (median #1407) and are somewhat less conventional today (#1410, ▼46.7%). Christian is more ubiquitous than the rest, although Cristiano seems to be getting popular too, while versions like Christ are now somewhat dated.
Christian is pronounced similarly to Chrystian. Other recommended names are Bastian, Brittan, Carsan, Carston, Caspian, Cassian, Cheston, Chilton, Chriss, Christmas, Christof, Christofer, Christoph, Christophe▼, Cillian, Corbinian, Crespin, Crispian, Crispin, Crispino, Crisspin (see Crispin), Cristobal, Cristoval, Cristovano, Drostan, Kristan, Kristien, Phinian, Sabastian, Sebastian▲, Thorstan, Thurstan, Tristan▲, Tristian, Tristin▼, Trystan and Whitman. These names tend to be less frequently used than Christian.See names in meaning and etymology.