# Sebastian (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/sebastian/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | “august”, “venerable”, “exalted” |
| Pronunciation | /səˈbæst͡ʃən/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | Bash, Seb, Bastian |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 218,463 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 218,055 / 408 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 34,085, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

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 Augustus.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 11 | 10,282 |
| 2012 | 13 | 9,039 |
| 2013 | 8 | 12,962 |
| 2014 | 10 | 10,824 |
| 2015 | 21 | 6,205 |
| 2016 | 16 | 7,550 |
| 2017 | 13 | 8,713 |
| 2018 | 11 | 9,716 |
| 2019 | 14 | 8,076 |
| 2020 | 7 | 13,252 |
| 2021 | 12 | 8,899 |
| 2022 | 5 | 17,368 |
| 2023 | 15 | 7,581 |
| 2024 | 19 | 6,362 |
| 2025 | 10 | 9,995 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 6,551 | 68 |
| 2012 | 6,744 | 64 |
| 2013 | 7,553 | 46 |
| 2014 | 9,315 | 34 |
| 2015 | 9,632 | 35 |
| 2016 | 10,309 | 23 |
| 2017 | 10,197 | 23 |
| 2018 | 10,137 | 18 |
| 2019 | 9,884 | 18 |
| 2020 | 9,029 | 19 |
| 2021 | 8,932 | 19 |
| 2022 | 9,403 | 13 |
| 2023 | 8,892 | 13 |
| 2024 | 8,593 | 14 |
| 2025 | 8,605 | 16 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1,493 | 47 |
| 2012 | 1,705 | 41 |
| 2013 | 1,828 | 38 |
| 2014 | 1,965 | 38 |
| 2015 | 1,988 | 35 |
| 2016 | 1,990 | 36 |
| 2017 | 1,881 | 35 |
| 2018 | 1,964 | 28 |
| 2019 | 1,678 | 34 |
| 2020 | 1,435 | 39 |
| 2021 | 1,516 | 38 |
| 2022 | 1,409 | 39 |
| 2023 | 1,313 | 42 |
| 2024 | 1,116 | 45 |
| 2025 | 1,077 | 47 |

## In other languages

- Bulgarian: Себастиан, Себастиян, Себастян
- Catalan: Sebastià
- Chinese: 塞巴斯蒂安
- Czech: Šebestián
- Danish: Sebastian
- Dutch: Sebastiaan
- Esperanto: Sebastiano
- French: Sébastien
- German: Sebastian
- Greek: Σεβαστιανός
- Hungarian: Sebestyén
- Italian: Sebastiano
- Norwegian: Sebastian
- Polish: Sebastian
- Portuguese: Sebastião
- Romanian: Sebastian
- Russian: Севастья́н, Севастиа́н, Себастья́н
- Spanish: Sebastián
- Swedish: Sebastian

## People named Sebastian

- Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (1685–1750)
- Sebastián Piñera, Chilean entrepreneur and politician (1949–2024)
- Sebastian Kurz, Chancellor of Austria (2017–2019, 2020–2021)
- Saint Sebastian, Christian saint and martyr (256–288)
- Juan Sebastián Elcano, Castillian Basque sailor, explorer, and circumnavigator with the Magellan Expedition
- Sebastian Coe, British athlete and politician (born 1956)
- Sebastian Kehl, German association football player
- Sebastian Brant, German humanist and satirist (1458-1521)
- Sebastian Rudy, German association football player
- Sebastian Rode, German association football player
- Sebastian Prödl, Austrian association football player
- Sebastian Münster, German cartographer, cosmographer, and scholar (1488–1552)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.