Kersti
A feminine Estonian and Finnish name meaning "crown of laurel".
Name Census estimates that about 59 living Americans carry the first name Kersti. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kersti today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kersti births was 1990 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kersti. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kersti. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
59
~ 1 in 5,809,396 Americans
Peak year
1990
18 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1994 SSA rank
#14,555
Tracked since 1969
Census
Kersti in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 175 people with the first name Kersti, which placed it at #41,669 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
#41,669
National first-name rank
People counted
175
175 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kersti
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kersti is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Kersti 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 Kersti at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.4% · 153
- Two or more races6.3% · 11
- Black or African American2.9% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
Popularity
Kersti: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kersti from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 36 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kersti 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 Kersti during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kersti
The name Kersti is a Finnish feminine name derived from the Old Norse words "ker" and "sten," meaning "marshy ground" and "stone," respectively. It is believed to have originated in the Viking era, when the Norsemen settled in Finland.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Kersti can be traced back to the 13th century, when it appeared in Finnish historical records. During this period, the name was primarily used by Finnish nobility and upper-class families, who often adopted Norse names due to the cultural influence of the Vikings.
In the 16th century, the name Kersti gained popularity among the general Finnish population. It became a common name for girls born in rural areas, particularly in regions with a strong Norse heritage.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Kersti was Kersti Kuick, a Finnish noblewoman born in the late 15th century. She played a significant role in negotiating peace treaties between Finland and neighboring countries during the turbulent period of the Northern Wars.
Another historical figure with the name Kersti was Kersti Bergroth, a Finnish author and poet born in 1886. She is renowned for her contributions to Finnish literature, particularly her works that explored the struggles and experiences of women in rural Finland.
In the 20th century, the name Kersti gained international recognition due to Kersti Kuisma, a Finnish-American actress born in 1912. She appeared in several Hollywood films during the 1940s and 1950s, including "The Razor's Edge" and "The Man with the Golden Arm."
Kersti Hallonen, born in 1925, was a renowned Finnish architect who played a pivotal role in designing many iconic buildings in Helsinki and other Finnish cities. Her modernist architectural style left a lasting impact on Finnish urban landscapes.
Lastly, Kersti Kaljulaid, born in 1969, is a notable figure in contemporary Finnish politics. She served as the President of Estonia from 2016 to 2021, becoming the first woman to hold the nation's highest office.
People
Kersti + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kersti as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kersti: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kersti?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 59 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kersti 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 5,809,396 US residents.
Is Kersti a common name?
We classify Kersti as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 62 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kersti most popular?
The single biggest year for Kersti was 1990, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kersti is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kersti in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 175 people with the name Kersti, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,669 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 Kersti 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 Kersti?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kersti appears almost entirely female. Of the 178 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Kersti?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kersti is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Kersti most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kersti in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.4% (153 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 Kersti in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kersti a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kersti 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 Kersti still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kersti 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 Kersti 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 are called Kersti?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.