Chip
Chip was given to 24 boys in 2025, #4,273 among boys’ names; 3,493 Americans have been recorded with it since 1942 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,840 Americans named Chip and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (81% of everyone recorded); the median is 59 years old and half are between 45 and 65.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Chip by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Chip mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Chip is “a diminutive of the male given names Christopher and Charles.”
/t͡ʃɪp/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Chip?
#4,273 among boys’ names, 2025
Chip rose from #6,050 in 2015 to #4,273 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 7.3 to 14.1 per million.
171 babies in 1962, the peak
Chip peaked in 1962, when 171 boys were given it, #593 among boys’ names. The 24 births of 2025 are 14% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 24 | #4,273 | 14.1 |
| 2024 | 36 | #3,280 | 20.9 |
| 2023 | 32 | #3,577 | 18.7 |
| 2022 | 43 | #2,926 | 24.6 |
| 2021 | 39 | #3,081 | 22.3 |
| 2020 | 47 | #2,664 | 27.2 |
| 2019 | 47 | #2,700 | 26.2 |
| 2018 | 31 | #3,545 | 17.1 |
| 2017 | 35 | #3,254 | 18.9 |
| 2016 | 16 | #5,598 | 8.4 |
Every recorded year (77)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 14 | #6,050 | 7.3 |
| 2014 | 8 | #8,914 | 4.2 |
| 2013 | 7 | #9,832 | 3.7 |
| 2011 | 6 | #11,068 | 3.2 |
| 2009 | 6 | #11,240 | 3.0 |
| 2008 | 5 | #12,851 | 2.5 |
| 2007 | 8 | #9,051 | 3.9 |
| 2006 | 6 | #10,900 | 2.9 |
| 2005 | 5 | #11,741 | 2.5 |
| 2003 | 5 | #11,171 | 2.5 |
| 2002 | 7 | #8,607 | 3.6 |
| 2001 | 6 | #9,453 | 3.1 |
| 1997 | 7 | #7,406 | 3.7 |
| 1996 | 9 | #6,066 | 4.8 |
| 1995 | 5 | #9,078 | 2.6 |
| 1994 | 7 | #7,071 | 3.6 |
| 1993 | 10 | #5,406 | 5.1 |
| 1992 | 8 | #6,215 | 4.0 |
| 1991 | 13 | #4,264 | 6.4 |
| 1990 | 14 | #3,998 | 6.8 |
| 1989 | 19 | #3,105 | 9.5 |
| 1988 | 31 | #2,038 | 16.2 |
| 1987 | 17 | #2,961 | 9.1 |
| 1986 | 14 | #3,291 | 7.6 |
| 1985 | 25 | #2,179 | 13.5 |
| 1984 | 26 | #2,046 | 14.4 |
| 1983 | 31 | #1,790 | 17.3 |
| 1982 | 27 | #2,009 | 14.9 |
| 1981 | 36 | #1,635 | 20.1 |
| 1980 | 47 | #1,381 | 26.3 |
| 1979 | 42 | #1,438 | 24.4 |
| 1978 | 76 | #990 | 46.3 |
| 1977 | 53 | #1,212 | 32.3 |
| 1976 | 39 | #1,428 | 24.9 |
| 1975 | 29 | #1,713 | 18.6 |
| 1974 | 41 | #1,335 | 26.1 |
| 1973 | 55 | #1,093 | 35.3 |
| 1972 | 57 | #1,070 | 35.2 |
| 1971 | 83 | #894 | 46.9 |
| 1970 | 91 | #846 | 49.0 |
| 1969 | 84 | #837 | 47.0 |
| 1968 | 76 | #834 | 43.7 |
| 1967 | 75 | #827 | 43.0 |
| 1966 | 84 | #794 | 47.1 |
| 1965 | 109 | #715 | 58.6 |
| 1964 | 162 | #615 | 81.3 |
| 1963 | 171 | #600 | 84.2 |
| 1962 | 171 | #593 | 82.7 |
| 1961 | 164 | #620 | 77.2 |
| 1960 | 133 | #680 | 62.4 |
| 1959 | 138 | #652 | 64.7 |
| 1958 | 93 | #770 | 43.8 |
| 1957 | 96 | #767 | 44.5 |
| 1956 | 111 | #702 | 52.5 |
| 1955 | 96 | #745 | 46.6 |
| 1954 | 70 | #879 | 34.3 |
| 1953 | 62 | #907 | 31.4 |
| 1952 | 47 | #1,055 | 24.2 |
| 1951 | 33 | #1,280 | 17.5 |
| 1950 | 35 | #1,222 | 19.6 |
| 1949 | 29 | #1,351 | 16.3 |
| 1948 | 23 | #1,524 | 13.1 |
| 1947 | 29 | #1,367 | 15.9 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,518 | 13.5 |
| 1945 | 17 | #1,637 | 12.6 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,097 | 8.8 |
| 1942 | 6 | #3,274 | 4.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Chip a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Chip has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 77 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Chip: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Chip, and how old are they?
2,840 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 81% of the 3,493 Americans ever recorded as Chip. The median Chip alive today is 59 years old; half are between 45 and 65.
The 2020 Census counted 2,694 people named Chip (41 women and girls, 2,653 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,812 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 15 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,210 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 910 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 276 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 60 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 376 |
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 Chip born?
The states with the most babies named Chip are California, Texas and Ohio, with 42% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 192 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 161 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 151 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 120 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| North Carolina | 80 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Florida | 74 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 68 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 60 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New York | 44 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Tennessee | 36 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Chip is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Chip is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1942 it was given 1.3 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 Chip with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Chip
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 Chip and names like it
- Compare Chip and KipBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sChip peaked in 1962.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Chip since 1910.
- The top names of 1962The year the most babies were named Chip.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Chip alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.