Chris

Where Chris comes from

The dictionaries list Chris as a given name — a diminutive of the male given names Christopher and (less commonly) Christian — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 1 syllable
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #236 among boys — 49 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1964
    Chris Cornell born
    American musician
  3. 1966
    Peak, #55
    5,257 babies named Chris — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1974
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #116.
  5. 1989
    Chris Smalling born
    English association football player
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the male given names Christopher and (less commonly) Christian.
  • A diminutive of the female given name (along with other variant forms) Christina.
Namesakes
  • Chris Smalling · English association football player, born 1989
  • Chris Cornell · American musician, 1964–2017
  • Chris Columbus · American filmmaker, born 1958
  • Chris Colfer · actor, singer, book author, born 1990
  • Chris Cooper · American actor, born 1951

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.