How rare is the name Chaim?

8,326 people in the United States have the first name Chaim, about 1 in 36,276. It ranks #2,790 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

CHAIM

#2,790

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
8,326
About
1 in 36,276
This common or more
80.9%
Who bears it

Of the 8,326 people named Chaim, 97.2% reported their origin as White. Virtually all are male (99.6%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Chaim peaked in 2022, when 462 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19422025
Peak year
2022
Births that year
462
In 2025*
411 ▼11%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 12,078 babies have been given the name since 1942. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Chaim by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2020s, when it ranked #1,337. The largest share of babies named Chaim, 39.8%, were born in 2013 or later.

1940s#6,18966
1950s#2,905354
1960s#3,116361
1970s#2,291756
1980s#2,0951,073
1990s#2,0521,514
2000s#1,8902,260
2010s#1,5913,209
2020s#1,3372,485
Silent Generation 1928–450.1%
Baby boom 1946–644.9%
Generation X 1965–808.3%
Millennials 1981–9616.4%
Generation Z 1997–1230.5%
2013 and later39.8%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Chaim is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Chaim has been most common in New York (9.5×), New Jersey (7.9×), and Maryland (0.89×), and least common in California (0.07×).

10,985 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Chaim

#2,788 Cherish · 8,334#2,789 Layton · 8,328#2,791 Vijay · 8,323#2,792 Jed · 8,309

Spelled almost the same

4 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Chaim, most common first.

#23,227 Cham · 423#38,539 Chain · 199#44,702 Chayim · 154#47,034 Chim · 140

Also a last name

As a last name, Chaim ranks #116,774 of 156,621, with 158 people. See Chaim as a last name

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