Chase

/ˈt͡ʃeɪs/

The name Chase originates as an English surname derived from the Old French chace (“hunt, chase”), itself from the Vulgar Latin captiare, a frequentative form of capere (“to seize, take”).

US Rank

No. 173

Births

2,148

Peak Year

2009

The Proto-Indo-European root *kap- underlies a wide family of words including capture, caption, and catch.

The surname was originally an occupational name for a huntsman or hunter, applied in medieval England to those employed in the royal forests and chases such as Cannock Chase and Cranborne Chase.

What the name Chase means

The surname produced numerous distinguished American bearers. Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873) served as Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln from 1861 to 1864, then as Chief Justice of the United States until his death.

He gave his name to Chase National Bank, the predecessor of JPMorgan Chase.

The bank was founded in 1877 and became one of the largest financial institutions in the world.

The Chase family of Maryland and Massachusetts also produced Samuel Chase (1741-1811), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Supreme Court justice.

Cultural visibility in the 20th century came through actor Chevy Chase, born Cornelius Crane Chase in 1943, whose work on Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), and Caddyshack (1980) made the name a fixture of American comedy.

The character Chase Stein in Marvel’s Runaways, the hockey player Chase Utley, and the children’s television character Chase from PAW Patrol have all sustained the name’s presence in contemporary popular culture.

Chase entered the SSA top 1000 for boys in 1969 and climbed rapidly through the 1980s and 1990s, breaking the top 100 in 1996. It peaked in the early 2000s near the top 50 and has remained in the top 100 ever since.

The name is favored across all regions of the United States and pairs commonly with sibling names such as Cole, Blake, and Drew in the broader trend of one-syllable surname names.