Chaim
Chaim was given to 411 boys in 2025, #666 among boys’ names; 12,078 Americans have been recorded with it since 1942 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 11,600 Americans named Chaim and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 17 years old and half are between 8 and 32.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Chaim by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Chaim mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Chaim is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “life” (חַיִּים).
From Hebrew חַיִּים (“life”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Chaim?
#666 among boys’ names, 2025
Chaim rose from #715 in 2015 to #666 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.18 to 0.24 per 1,000.
462 babies in 2022, the peak
Chaim peaked in 2022, when 462 boys were given it, #607 among boys’ names. The 411 births of 2025 are 89% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 411 | #666 | 0.24 |
| 2024 | 399 | #682 | 0.23 |
| 2023 | 444 | #626 | 0.26 |
| 2022 | 462 | #607 | 0.26 |
| 2021 | 383 | #694 | 0.22 |
| 2020 | 386 | #673 | 0.22 |
| 2019 | 360 | #699 | 0.20 |
| 2018 | 314 | #751 | 0.17 |
| 2017 | 347 | #706 | 0.19 |
| 2016 | 326 | #749 | 0.17 |
Every recorded year (83)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 347 | #715 | 0.18 |
| 2014 | 291 | #790 | 0.15 |
| 2013 | 341 | #700 | 0.18 |
| 2012 | 339 | #701 | 0.18 |
| 2011 | 299 | #757 | 0.16 |
| 2010 | 245 | #859 | 0.13 |
| 2009 | 270 | #818 | 0.14 |
| 2008 | 273 | #804 | 0.13 |
| 2007 | 275 | #787 | 0.13 |
| 2006 | 237 | #847 | 0.12 |
| 2005 | 239 | #803 | 0.12 |
| 2004 | 213 | #835 | 0.11 |
| 2003 | 213 | #822 | 0.11 |
| 2002 | 184 | #885 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 174 | #901 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 182 | #868 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 179 | #843 | 0.09 |
| 1998 | 191 | #800 | 0.10 |
| 1997 | 172 | #834 | 0.09 |
| 1996 | 162 | #854 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 130 | #969 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 142 | #917 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 148 | #874 | 0.08 |
| 1992 | 131 | #928 | 0.07 |
| 1991 | 127 | #937 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 132 | #889 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 144 | #827 | 0.07 |
| 1988 | 137 | #808 | 0.07 |
| 1987 | 114 | #874 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 85 | #1,002 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 109 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 114 | #818 | 0.06 |
| 1983 | 98 | #889 | 0.05 |
| 1982 | 93 | #927 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 104 | #871 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 69 | #1,090 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 99 | #876 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 98 | #869 | 0.06 |
| 1977 | 82 | #939 | 0.05 |
| 1976 | 84 | #906 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 76 | #939 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 70 | #978 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 72 | #950 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 79 | #901 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 42 | #1,295 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 54 | #1,117 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 40 | #1,253 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 41 | #1,191 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 29 | #1,412 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 37 | #1,239 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 25 | #1,564 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 24 | #1,621 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 25 | #1,593 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 27 | #1,519 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 51 | #1,097 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 62 | #965 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 62 | #976 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 57 | #1,007 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 51 | #1,063 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 37 | #1,259 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 29 | #1,421 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 25 | #1,530 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 31 | #1,359 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 24 | #1,551 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 21 | #1,649 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 17 | #1,827 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 17 | #1,829 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,344 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,688 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 12 | #2,166 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,394 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 5 | #3,499 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 7 | #2,971 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Chaim a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Chaim has been given almost only to boys: 6 girls in 83 years of records.
Girls and boys named Chaim: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Chaim, and how old are they?
11,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 12,078 Americans ever recorded as Chaim. The median Chaim alive today is 17 years old; half are between 8 and 32.
The 2020 Census counted 8,326 people named Chaim (35 women and girls, 8,291 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 9,348 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 7 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 411 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 891 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,880 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,630 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,780 |
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 Chaim born?
The states with the most babies named Chaim are New York, New Jersey and Illinois, with 97% of its births recorded by state in 2025; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 260 | #62 | 10.4× |
| New Jersey | 117 | #76 | 7.0× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,152 | 0.1× |
| Florida | 5 | #1,888 | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,304 | 0.1× |
Where Chaim is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Chaim is most over-represented in New York: since 1942 it was given 10.4 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 Chaim 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 12,364 babies since 1880, Chaim is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 411 of their 419 babies (98%), 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 Chaim
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 Chaim and names like it
- Compare Chaim and HaimBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sChaim peaked in 2022.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Chaim since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Chaim: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Chaim.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Chaim alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.