Greek sebastos, "venerable", the Greek for the imperial title Augustus — from sebaste; venerable. A third-century martyr, and one of the most painted saints of the Renaissance.
Sebastian ranks 16th among American boys in 2025, with 8,615 born that year. Its best year was 2016, when 10,325 babies were given the name, ranking 23rd. The typical living American called Sebastian is about 12 years old today. It is relatively most common in New Mexico, where it accounts for 0.62% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.