Chad
Chad was given to 96 boys in 2025, #1,701 among boys’ names; 241,767 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 221,000 Americans named Chad and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 40 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Chad by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Chad mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Chad is “a male given name from Old English; also a modern nickname for Charles, Chadwick and similar-sounding names.”
From Middle English Chadde, from Old English Ċeadda, of obscure meaning; name of a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon saint, revived in the 20th century. The sense of “alpha male” originates from an apparent stereotype that men with such a name tend to bear that temperament, first attested in c. late 1990s in Chicago, Illinois (specifically “successful white man, yuppie”), but in common usage only as of the late 2010s via 4chan and California slang.
/t͡ʃæd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Chad?
#1,701 among boys’ names, 2025
Chad fell from #760 in 2015 to #1,701 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.16 to 0.06 per 1,000.
13,441 babies in 1972, the peak
Chad peaked in 1972, when 13,441 babies were given it (13,392 boys, #25 among boys’ names). The 96 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 96 | #1,701 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 90 | #1,810 | 0.05 |
| 2023 | 108 | #1,611 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 132 | #1,404 | 0.08 |
| 2021 | 158 | #1,218 | 0.09 |
| 2020 | 150 | #1,241 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 175 | #1,118 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 241 | #899 | 0.13 |
| 2017 | 220 | #948 | 0.12 |
| 2016 | 291 | #799 | 0.15 |
Every recorded year (111)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 314 | #760 | 0.16 |
| 2014 | 346 | #705 | 0.18 |
| 2013 | 358 | #674 | 0.19 |
| 2012 | 434 | #589 | 0.23 |
| 2011 | 439 | #570 | 0.23 |
| 2010 | 463 | #545 | 0.24 |
| 2009 | 529 | #509 | 0.27 |
| 2008 | 613 | #452 | 0.30 |
| 2007 | 659 | #431 | 0.32 |
| 2006 | 799 | #373 | 0.39 |
| 2005 | 767 | #377 | 0.38 |
| 2004 | 828 | #343 | 0.42 |
| 2003 | 861 | #334 | 0.44 |
| 2002 | 928 | #309 | 0.48 |
| 2001 | 1,079 | #283 | 0.56 |
| 2000 | 1,453 | #236 | 0.74 |
| 1999 | 1,585 | #215 | 0.83 |
| 1998 | 1,808 | #186 | 0.95 |
| 1997 | 1,952 | #174 | 1.0 |
| 1996 | 2,168 | #161 | 1.1 |
| 1995 | 2,434 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 1994 | 2,730 | #130 | 1.4 |
| 1993 | 3,143 | #114 | 1.6 |
| 1992 | 3,356 | #108 | 1.7 |
| 1991 | 3,585 | #104 | 1.8 |
| 1990 | 4,351 | #85 | 2.1 |
| 1989 | 4,723 | #74 | 2.4 |
| 1988 | 5,299 | #65 | 2.8 |
| 1987 | 5,622 | #63 | 3.0 |
| 1986 | 6,026 | #59 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 6,466 | #57 | 3.5 |
| 1984 | 7,062 | #51 | 3.9 |
| 1983 | 7,390 | #49 | 4.1 |
| 1982 | 7,909 | #48 | 4.4 |
| 1981 | 8,412 | #47 | 4.7 |
| 1980 | 10,142 | #39 | 5.7 |
| 1979 | 10,161 | #38 | 5.9 |
| 1978 | 10,107 | #35 | 6.2 |
| 1977 | 10,831 | #34 | 6.6 |
| 1976 | 11,766 | #29 | 7.5 |
| 1975 | 12,838 | #27 | 8.2 |
| 1974 | 12,788 | #26 | 8.1 |
| 1973 | 12,886 | #25 | 8.3 |
| 1972 | 13,392 | #25 | 8.3 |
| 1971 | 12,137 | #29 | 6.9 |
| 1970 | 6,628 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1969 | 4,060 | #69 | 2.3 |
| 1968 | 2,917 | #104 | 1.7 |
| 1967 | 2,946 | #105 | 1.7 |
| 1966 | 2,201 | #135 | 1.2 |
| 1965 | 1,172 | #209 | 0.63 |
| 1964 | 875 | #259 | 0.44 |
| 1963 | 648 | #309 | 0.32 |
| 1962 | 464 | #374 | 0.22 |
| 1961 | 364 | #416 | 0.17 |
| 1960 | 255 | #494 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 247 | #499 | 0.12 |
| 1958 | 249 | #492 | 0.12 |
| 1957 | 252 | #490 | 0.12 |
| 1956 | 221 | #509 | 0.10 |
| 1955 | 235 | #476 | 0.11 |
| 1954 | 202 | #512 | 0.10 |
| 1953 | 152 | #583 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 118 | #643 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 95 | #711 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 66 | #837 | 0.04 |
| 1949 | 56 | #924 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 55 | #933 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 78 | #778 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 57 | #869 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 40 | #1,006 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 36 | #1,110 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 39 | #1,089 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 41 | #1,058 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 26 | #1,302 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 23 | #1,408 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 21 | #1,459 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 18 | #1,621 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 15 | #1,834 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,596 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 22 | #1,457 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 15 | #1,872 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,395 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 17 | #1,785 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,117 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,061 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,468 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,117 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 10 | #2,729 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 7 | #3,441 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 10 | #2,780 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,250 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 10 | #2,794 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 15 | #2,156 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 8 | #3,256 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 10 | #2,801 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 10 | #2,703 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,573 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 13 | #2,198 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #3,914 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 11 | #1,994 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Chad a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Chad has been given almost only to boys: 1,039 girls in 111 years of records.
Girls and boys named Chad: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Chad, and how old are they?
221,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 241,767 Americans ever recorded as Chad. The median Chad alive today is 47 years old; half are between 40 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 209,144 people named Chad (217 women and girls, 208,927 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 225,824 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 98 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,420 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 123,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 76,600 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 14,900 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,660 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Chad born?
The states with the most babies named Chad are California, Ohio and Texas, with 20% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 17,035 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 16,375 | #1,135 | 1.4× |
| Texas | 14,396 | #1,673 | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 13,076 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 11,868 | #1,123 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 10,801 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Minnesota | 9,991 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Indiana | 9,580 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Wisconsin | 9,218 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| New York | 8,539 | #1,441 | 0.5× |
Where Chad is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Chad is most over-represented in Iowa: since 1914 it was given 2.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Chad with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 244,223 babies since 1880, Chad is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 96 of their 96 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Chad
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Chad and names like it
- Compare Chad and ChaddBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sChad peaked in 1972.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Chad since 1910.
- Old English namesWiktionary’s origin for Chad: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Chad.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Chad alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with CMost given first.