Christopher

English

Etymology

From Late Latin Christophorus, from Koine Greek Χρῑστόφορος (Khrīstóphoros, “carrier of Christ”), from Ancient Greek Χριστός (Khristós, “Christ”) + φόρος (phóros, “carrier, bearer”), from φέρειν (phérein, “to carry, to bear”) + -ος (-os, “-er: forming agent nouns”), from the legend of Saint Christopher carrying the infant Jesus across a river.

Pronunciation

• enPR: krĭsʹtəfər, IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪs.tə.fɚ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: Chris‧to‧pher

Proper noun

Christopher

1. A male given name from Ancient Greek.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act INDUCTION, scene ii]:

     Am not I Christopher Sly, old Sly's son, of Burtonheath; by birth a pedlar, by education a card-maker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present profession a tinker?

   • 1934, Dorothy Sayers, The Nine Tailors:

     - - - a baby, which also happened to fall due, was baptized "Paul" ( for the church ) "Christopher" ( because St. Christopher had to do with rivers and ferries ), the Rector strenuously resisting the parents' desire to call it "Van Weyden Flood".

2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Synonyms

• (given name): Chip, Chris, Chrissy, Christoph, Christy, Kit, Topher

Derived terms

• Chris
• Chrissy
• Christie
• Christoph
• Christopherson
• Saint Christopher
• Saint Christopher and Nevis
• Topher

 

Related terms

• Chip, Kester, Kit, Kristopher

Translations

a male given name

• Afrikaans: Christoffel, Christophorus
• Albanian: Kristofór m, Kristóf m, Krísto m
• Arabic: كْرِيسْتُوفَر (kristūfar)
• Aragonese: Cristofo
• Armenian: Կրիսդապոր (Krisdapor), Քրիստոֆեր (Kʻristofer)
• Azerbaijani: Kristofer
• Basque: Kristobal
• Bavarian: Christoph
• Bengali: ক্রিস্টোফার (krisṭōphar)
• Breton: Kristof (br), Kristol
• Bulgarian: Хри́сто m (Hrísto)
• Carpathian Rusyn: Крі́стоф m (Krístof)
• Catalan: Cristòfol (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 克里斯托弗 (zh) (Kèlǐsituofú)

• Cornish: Kitto
• Corsican: Cristofanu
• Czech: Kryštof (cs) m
• Danish: Christoffer
• Dutch: Christoffel (nl), Kristof (nl), Kristoffel
• Esperanto: Kristoforo
• Estonian: Kristofer
• Faroese: Kristoffur m
• Finnish: Risto (fi), Kristoferi
• Franco-Provençal: Cristofllo, Crétoublo
• French: Christophe (fr) m
• Galician: Cristovo (gl)
• Georgian: ქრისტეფორე (krisṭepore)
• German: Christoph (de) m
• Greek: Χριστόφορος (el) m (Christóforos), Χρήστος (el) m (Chrístos)
• Gujarati: ક્રિસ્ટોફર (krisṭophar)
• Haitian Creole: Kristòf
• Hawaiian: Kilikopela
• Hebrew: כְּרִיסְטוֹפֶר (krístofer)
• Hindi: क्रिस्तोफर (kristophar)
• Hungarian: Kristóf (hu), Krisztofer
• Icelandic: Kristófer (is)
• Indonesian: Kristofer
• Ingrian: Kristafora
• Irish: Críostóir
• Italian: Cristoforo (it)
• Japanese: クリストファー (Kurisutofā)
• Kannada: ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಟೋಫರ್ (krisṭōphar)
• Korean: 크리스토퍼 (keuriseutopeo)
• Latin: Christophorus
• Latvian: Kristofers, Kristaps
• Ligurian: Christoffa
• Lithuanian: Kristoforas, Kristupas
• Macedonian: Кристофер (Kristofer)
• Malagasy: Kristofra
• Malay: Kristofer
• Maltese: Kristofru, Ħamallu
• Maori: Karihitopa
• Marathi: क्रिस्टोफर m (krisṭophar)
• Middle English: Cristofre
• Norwegian: Kristoffer (no)
• Occitan: Cristòl, Cristòu m, Cristofòri m, Cristòfa m
• Polish: Krzysztof (pl) m
• Portuguese: Cristóvão (pt)
• Russian: Христофо́р (ru) m (Xristofór), Кри́стофер (ru) m (Krístofer) (transliteration)
• Samoan: Kerisitofā
• Scottish Gaelic: Crìsdean m, Gillechrìost m, Gille Chrìost m
• Serbo-Croatian: Kristofor
• Sicilian: Cristòfuru
• Slovak: Kryštof m
• Slovene: Krištof m
• Spanish: Cristóbal (es) m
• Swahili: Kristofa
• Swedish: Kristoffer (sv)
• Tagalog: Kristobal
• Tamil: கிரிஸ்டோபர் (kirisṭōpar)
• Thai: คริสโตเฟอร์
• Tokelauan: Kelihitofā
• Tongan: Kulisitofā
• Turkish: Kristof
• Welsh: Cristoffer

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Christopher, from Ancient Greek Χριστόφορος (Khristóphoros, “Christ-bearing”).

Proper noun

Christopher

1. a male given name from English [in turn from Ancient Greek]

Danish

Etymology

English style spelling variant of the standard Danish Christoffer.

Proper noun

Christopher

1. a male given name

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English Christopher, as a variant of the standard French Christophe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁis.tɔ.fɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Christopher m

1. a male given name

German

Etymology

From English Christopher, as a variant of the standard German Christoph.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Christopher m (proper noun, strong, genitive Christophers)

1. a male given name from English

Norwegian

Etymology

English style spelling variant of the standard Norwegian Kristoffer.

Proper noun

Christopher

1. a male given name from English

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• Cristopher

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Christopher. Doublet of Cristóvão and Cristóforo.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾis.to.feʁ/ [ˈkɾis.to.feh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾis.to.feʁ/ [ˈkɾis.to.feh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾis.to.feɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾiʃ.to.feʁ/ [ˈkɾiʃ.to.feχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkɾis.to.feɻ/

Proper noun

Christopher m

1. a male given name from English

Swedish

Etymology

English style spelling variant of the standard Swedish Kristoffer.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Christopher c (genitive Christophers)

1. a male given name from English