Kirstie
Of Scottish origin, a feminine form of Christopher, meaning "follower of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 3,916 living Americans carry the first name Kirstie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kirstie today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kirstie births was 1991 (635 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kirstie. 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 Kirstie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.9K
~ 1 in 87,527 Americans
Peak year
1991
635 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2011 SSA rank
#18,281
Tracked since 1950
Census
Kirstie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,653 people with the first name Kirstie, which placed it at #4,899 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
#4,899
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,653 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kirstie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirstie is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.5%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Kirstie 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 Kirstie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 2,846
- Hispanic or Latino7.5% · 273
- Black or African American5.9% · 214
- Two or more races4.6% · 169
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 117
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 34
Popularity
Kirstie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kirstie from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,450 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kirstie 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 Kirstie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kirsties live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kirstie, while Connecticut, Maine, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 70 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kirstie
The given name Kirstie is derived from the Scottish Gaelic name Crìosdaidh, which is the Scottish form of the name Christina, meaning "Christian" or "follower of Christ". The name originated in the early Christian era and was used primarily in Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom.
The name Kirstie is believed to have its roots in the ancient Greek name Christos, meaning "anointed one" or "the anointed", which was a title given to Jesus Christ. The name Christina, and by extension Kirstie, was adopted by early Christians as a way to honor their faith and devotion to Christ.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kirstie can be found in the 16th century Scottish records. A notable bearer of the name was Kirstie Steedman (c. 1595-1660), a Scottish woman accused of witchcraft during the Samuelston witch trials.
In the 17th century, Kirstie Lindsay (c. 1635-1685) was a Scottish noblewoman and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Mary of Modena, the second wife of King James II of England.
Another historically significant bearer of the name was Kirstie Baird (1730-1810), a Scottish poet and songwriter known for her contributions to the Scottish literary tradition.
In the 19th century, Kirstie Traquhair (1818-1892) was a Scottish artist and painter, renowned for her landscape paintings depicting the Scottish Highlands.
Kirstie Allsopp (born 1972) is a modern-day British television presenter and businesswoman, known for her work on various home and property shows, including Location, Location, Location and Kirstie's Handmade Treasures.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kirstie
People
Kirstie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kirstie 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
Kirstie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kirstie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,916 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kirstie 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 87,527 US residents.
Is Kirstie a common name?
We classify Kirstie as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,151 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kirstie most popular?
The single biggest year for Kirstie was 1991, when 635 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kirstie 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 Kirstie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,653 people with the name Kirstie, or 1.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,899 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 Kirstie 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 Kirstie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kirstie appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,655 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 Kirstie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirstie is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.5%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Kirstie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kirstie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (2,846 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 Kirstie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kirstie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kirstie 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 Kirstie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kirstie 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 Kirstie 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 named Kirstie?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kirstie at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.