Why Are There so Many "Chrises" in Hollywood These Days? (The Popularity of the Name "Chris" Over Time)

It has become a well-known joke that the action heroes starring in big-budget action blockbusters today are . . . a bunch of Chrises (Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine), with some comparing one Chris to another and a similarly popular joke that one of these figures is "the worst Chris." (You probably know which one. If you don't, here's a hint: you've probably heard him try to get people to call him "Star-Lord.")

It occurred to me that this is probably a reflection of the popularity of the name "Christopher" at the time of their birth--which happens to be the 1979-1983 period. (Christopher Pratt was born in 1979, Christopher Pine in 1980, Christopher Evans in 1981.)

As it happened, this was exactly the case. According to the Social Security Administration Christopher was the second most popular male baby name in the United States every single year through the 1979-1994 period--which covers the 1979-1981 period when Chris Pratt, Chris Evans and Chris Pine were born. Of course, Christopher Hemsworth was born in Australia--but it may be that the name was almost as popular in that country when Hemsworth was born in 1983 (#3 in New South Wales, at any rate).

So there really is a reason for there being so many famous Chrises in Hollywood blockbusters at once--which suggests we are unlikely to see quite so many in the years to come. For while Christopher was the second most popular name for those sixteen years, and almost as popular for longer (in the top 5 in 1972-1998, top 10 in 1967-2009), its popularity pretty much collapsed after the '00s (tumbling from #10 in 2009 to #52 in 2021 just a dozen years later).

What replaced it in the #2 spot? In succession, Matthew, Jacob, Michael (which had been #1 when Christopher was #2), Ethan, Mason, Jacob again, and Liam--such that maybe a few decades on movie-watchers will be arguing about the "worst" Michael or Jacob or Liam instead.