Chrystal
A feminine name derived from the Greek word "khrustallos", meaning "crystal" or "glittering".
Name Census estimates that about 13,610 living Americans carry the first name Chrystal. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chrystal today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chrystal births was 1982 (792 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chrystal. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Chrystal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 25,184 Americans
Peak year
1982
792 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1987 SSA rank
#7,139
Tracked since 1894
Census
Chrystal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,009 people with the first name Chrystal, which placed it at #2,084 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,084
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,009 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chrystal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chrystal is White at 63.0%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Hispanic (10.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Chrystal described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Chrystal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.0% · 8,191
- Black or African American18.2% · 2,372
- Hispanic or Latino10.8% · 1,403
- Two or more races4.9% · 633
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 243
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 167
Gender
Gender distribution for Chrystal
Out of the 15,757 babies given the name Chrystal since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Chrystal as a male name
- Ranked #7,139 in 1987
- 5 male births in 1987
- Peak: 1987 (5 births)
Chrystal as a female name
- Ranked #12,395 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (792 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chrystal appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,010 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Chrystal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chrystal from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 5,603 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chrystal by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Chrystal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chrystals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Chrystal, while Wyoming, South Dakota, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 248 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chrystal
The given name Chrystal is derived from the Greek word "khrustos" meaning gold or golden-colored. It is believed to have originated in the ancient Greek civilization, where it was likely used as a descriptive name for someone with golden hair or a golden complexion.
The earliest recorded use of the name Chrystal dates back to ancient Greek texts and inscriptions from around the 5th century BCE. In these early mentions, it was often used as a nickname or epithet rather than a formal given name.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Chrystal was a Greek artist from the 4th century BCE. Chrystal of Argos was a renowned painter and sculptor who was celebrated for her lifelike depictions of subjects in various mediums.
In the Middle Ages, the name Chrystal gained popularity in Eastern Orthodox Christian communities, where it was often given to children born around the Christmas season or during the winter months. This was likely due to the name's association with the Greek word for gold, which was seen as a symbol of wealth and prosperity.
During the Renaissance period, the name Chrystal became more widely used across Europe. One notable figure from this time was Chrystal Hiëronymus, a Dutch painter and engraver who was born in 1552 and known for his detailed and intricate works.
In the 17th century, the name Chrystal was embraced by some Puritan communities in England and the American colonies. One example is Chrystal Winthrop, born in 1638, who was the daughter of the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Chrystal continued to be used across various cultures and regions. Some other notable historical figures with this name include Chrystal Macaulay, an English historian and writer born in 1800, and Chrystal Garibaldi, an Italian patriot and military leader born in 1807, who was the daughter of the famous revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi.
People
Chrystal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chrystal as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chrystal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chrystal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,610 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chrystal going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 25,184 US residents.
Is Chrystal a common name?
We classify Chrystal as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,757 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chrystal most popular?
The single biggest year for Chrystal was 1982, when 792 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chrystal is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chrystal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,009 people with the name Chrystal, or 4.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,084 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Chrystal in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Chrystal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chrystal appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,010 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Chrystal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chrystal is White at 63.0%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Hispanic (10.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Chrystal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chrystal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.0% (8,191 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Chrystal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chrystal a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chrystal in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Chrystal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chrystal in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Chrystal can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Chrystal?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.