Cleveland Evans: 'Superman' helped make Christopher a super name
Did you see a real-life Superman on screen this weekend?
"Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," a documentary about the actor famous for starring in four Superman films between 1978 and 1987, and for advocating for the disabled after becoming paralyzed himself in 1995, premiered in limited release Sept. 21. It will be in theaters again Sept. 25, which would have been Reeve's 72nd birthday.
Christopher is the English form of Christophoros, Greek for "bearing Christ," created by early Christians to proclaim they carried Christ in their heart.
St. Christopher was martyred in the third century. A church was dedicated to him in Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople (now Istanbul) on September 22, 452, exactly 1,572 years ago today.
Though nothing else is known about St. Christopher, a legend based on his name's meaning soon developed. A small boy asks Christopher to carry him across a river. In the stream's middle, the child's weight suddenly becomes almost unbearable. When Christopher makes it across, the child reveals he is Jesus.
Though Christopher's name was rare in early medieval England, it became customary after 1300 to put paintings of him carrying the Christ child on a wall where those entering churches would immediately see it.
Christopher's use gradually increased. It ranked 14th for English boys born in the 1540s, and stayed about that rank through the 1670s.
As the name of a non-Biblical saint, Christopher might have been avoided by New England's Puritan parents. That was countered by the fame of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian voyager who "discovered" America for Spain in 1492. In 1692, Massachusetts preacher Cotton Mather proclaimed devout Catholic Columbus's voyage one of most important events in history.
When the United States became independent from Britain, Americans idolized Columbus to distance themselves from Britain and forge a new American identity. Places were named Columbus or Columbia in his honor, and Christopher was regularly given to boys all over the new nation.
In 1850 the first United States census found 16,819 men named Christopher. In 1880, when Social Security's yearly name data starts, Christopher ranked 142nd.
Christopher gradually declined, falling to 381st in 1933. Then it began to rise, helped by the popularity of British author A. A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" books, which featured a boy named Christopher Robin (named after Milne's own son) and his teddy bear friend.
Christopher entered the top 100 in 1949 and the top 10 in 1967. Names that increase gradually like this have staying power — Christopher first ranked second in 1972, and stayed second or third until 1996. At its peak in 1984, over 3.3% of boys were named Christopher or an alternative spelling like Kristofer.
Actor Kristoffer Tabori caused a peak in his spelling when he played Al Blackman on the minseries "Seventh Avenue" in 1977. Reeve's Superman fame probably helped Christopher maintain its huge popularity in the 1980s.
Economist Christopher J. Sims (born 1942) won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2011. Christopher A. Wray (1966) is the present director of the F.B.I.
Most famous men called Chris were born "Christopher" — two examples being "Captain America" actor Evans (1981) and rebooted Star Trek's James Kirk actor Pine (1980).
With the average Christopher turning 40 this year, it was down to 55th for newborns in 2023. Still, Christopher will be a super name in America for decades to come.
