Christer

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 13 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Christer is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name755 records spelled Christer2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Sweden, United States, United Kingdom

  Also written Christër

• Russian given name214 records spelled Christer9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Sweden, Russia, Finland, Norway

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Кристер, Krister, Чристер

49 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Christer is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A Christian who publicly displays his or her religion.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Christer (m.fl. former), av äldre Christiern, är en nordisk form av → Christian. I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 13 november.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• Swedish and Danish form of the male name CHRISTIAN . It is first found in the 15th century, when it began to be borne regularly in a few noble families. It came into more general popularity in the 1940s.

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 58 years between 1951–2022. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Christer Strömholmb. 1918SESwedish photographer (1918-2002)
• Christer Johanssonb. 1944SESwedish table tennis player
• Christer Petterssonb. 1947SESwedish criminal (1947–2004)
• Christer Nilsonb. 1949SESwedish film producer and screenwriter
• Christer Sjögrenb. 1950SESwedish dansband and rock singer
• Björn Wahlroosb. 1952FInot in their usual nameFinnish economist and chairperson
• Christer Fuglesangb. 1957SESwedish astronaut
• Christer Björkmanb. 1957SESwedish singer, television presenter and producer
• Christer Majbäckb. 1964SESwedish cross-country skier
• Christer Wallinb. 1969SESwedish swimmer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 223 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Christer?

We estimate roughly 61 thousand people bear Christer (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Christer have the most bearers?

We estimate about 55 thousand people bear Christer in Sweden, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled christer.

Where is Christer most common?

Christer is densest in Sweden, where the national register counts about 1 in 187 people carrying it.

How common is Christer compared with other names?

In Sweden, Christer is the 66th most common given name of 36,824 given names recorded there.

Is Christer a male or female name?

Christer is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Christer mean?

Recorded meaning: a male given name derived from Christian, through a medieval form Christiern