Cristiano is the Italian and Portuguese form of Christian, from the Latin Christianus, and means "follower of Christ". Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo turned a traditional southern European name into a global one, and the numbers in the United States track his career closely. Cristiano had fewer than 30 births a year in 2000, entered the top 1000 in 2011, peaked at number 841 in 2015 and ranks number 1288 in 2025.