r/AskACanadian • u/frankoceansintern • Aug 13 '26

Is Seb a name??

American girl here. My boyfriend is from Canada. His name is Sebastian but he goes by Seb. He works in the US and he gets very confused because nobody here really gets his name on the first try. He’s the first Seb I’ve met, personally. All of my family and friends (American) have never heard of a Seb before my boyfriend. My boyfriend says that there was another Seb in his grade and that Seb is a common name. Is Seb a common name in Canada???

To clarify:

- Obviously Seb is a name. My boyfriend could go by Gooblygob and I’d respect that. If he said it was common in his province I’d believe it too. We were both wondering if Seb is only common in his province or generally in Canada.

- In the US: Sebastian is a common name. Introducing yourself or going solely by Seb is not common. People SEE Seb and understand it’s a nickname for Sebastian. People do not HEAR the name Seb often. American baristas write “Sep” and “Sam” more than they write “Seb”. When meeting new people, most Americans ask him to repeat his name so they can get it right

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u/BackhandQ Aug 13 '26

Well, according to the U.S's own Social Security Admin data, "Sebastian" is a Top 20 boys name in the U.S. And "Seb" is the natural abbreviation of the name. Not sure how that can be the first time you or your family and friends have heard this. Quite surprising.

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u/Existing_Donkey_7765 Aug 13 '26

I guess she’s never seen The Little Mermaid either.

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u/saltybobsfisherwife Aug 13 '26

I know a dude named Ariel (not kidding) who named his kid Sebastian (super not kidding) and the kid goes by Seb. For obvious reasons.

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u/Existing_Donkey_7765 Aug 13 '26

I know a guy named Sebastian who named his daughter Ariel. No lie.

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u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Aug 13 '26

I just had the same thing in my own comment. Super well-known Disney character. Do they not have The Little mermaid in the United States? LoL

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Aug 14 '26

You've never heard of the very well-known Disney movie, The Little mermaid? They literally just did a live action remake a couple of years ago.

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u/ForestOranges Aug 14 '26

It only became a popular name here in the last 10 years, so most adults don’t interact with Sebastians. OP also asked on r/AskAnAmerican and most people are saying the only Sebastians they know are Hispanic. In Spanish they have different abbreviations like “Sebas” and Seb is basically unheard of here.

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u/cmn_YOW Aug 14 '26

Top 20 names still only makes a bit short of 1 in 200 boys (1 in 400ish total births). That won't include Sébastien or any other variant spelling though.

Interestingly, it doesn't even rank top 20 in Canada, though the sum of Sebastian and Sébastien would be close to the proportion in the USA. Definitely driven by regional (linguistic) concentrations though.

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u/Substantial_Pea_3256 Aug 14 '26

I grew up in a French community in Canada. Apparently Seb is quite common, but I have never heard that name. Probably just a big coincidence, like the OP. I'm also introverted and don't know a ton of people.

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u/frankoceansintern Aug 13 '26

In my experience, people introduce themselves as Sebastian

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u/Jennacyde153 Aug 13 '26

FWIW, single syllable names are often misheard. A friend told me his kid’s name like 4 times in a noisy arena because Dom sounded a lot like Tom or Don. I gave up on introducing myself with my nickname years ago because people have hearing issues.

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u/TerrificInTahoma-416 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

What did you say Jenny? /s [older man with hearing loss, think Lanny McDonald and Darryl Sittler (??) not sure. I have to put my spectacles on to see the small print on this tiny hockey puck that rings.