Sebastian

What Sebastian means

Means “august, venerable, exalted”

From Latin Sebastiānus, name of an early Christian saint, from ancient city of Sebaste in Asia Minor (modern Sivas, Turkey), from Ancient Greek Σεβαστός (Sebastós, “august, venerable, exalted”), itself a translation of the Roman title Augus

Source: Wiktionary, “Sebastian” (revision 93879387), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Sebastian?

US: Rising: up from #35 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #35 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2018, when 10,137 boys got the name (#18 that year). First in the US records in 1881.

How common

• About 1 in 198 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 252 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 677 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in CA (11.14 per 1,000 boys), NM (10.62 per 1,000 boys), DC (9.89 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Sebastian is #16 in the US and #47 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9% of US babies named Sebastian were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Sabastian33 US
• Sebastion19 US
• Zebastian11 US
• Cebastian5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Sebastian

Boys

• Julian#25“Roman personal name”^*
• Magnus#763“great”^*
• Solomon#422“peace”^*
• Damian#109“to tame”^*
• Blaze#781Editor’s note Down from #707 in 2015 to #781 in 2025 in the US
• Lukas#288“a man from Lucania”^*

For a sister

• Livia#819Editor’s note Down from #724 in 2015 to #819 in 2025 in the US
• Elaina#267Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #267 vs #951 in 2025
• Arabella#213Editor’s note Steady in the US: #194 in 2015 and #213 in 2025
• Zoey#69Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1967, with 6 babies
• Harmony#276From the word “harmony”^*
• Lydia#92“the region of Lydia”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Sebastian’s. Rank is US 2025.