Kris
A Scandinavian modern name derived from the Greek word Khristos meaning "follower of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 23,594 living Americans carry the first name Kris. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 51.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Kris today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kris births was 1965 (1,387 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kris. 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 Kris with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kris sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Kris have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,527 Americans
Peak year
1965
1,387 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,556
Tracked since 1937
Census
Kris in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 33,730 people with the first name Kris, which placed it at #1,166 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
#1,166
National first-name rank
People counted
34K
33,730 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kris
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kris is White at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Kris 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 Kris at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.2% · 26,710
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 2,174
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.9% · 1,976
- Black or African American4.7% · 1,587
- Two or more races3.0% · 1,011
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 272
Gender
Gender distribution for Kris
Kris is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 27,925 total registrations, 14,362 (51.4%) were male and 13,563 (48.6%) were female.
Kris as a male name
- Ranked #3,556 in 2024
- 32 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (513 births)
Kris as a female name
- Ranked #11,636 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1965 (978 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kris on both sides of the split. Of the 33,727 people counted with this name, 19,968 were male (59.2%) and 13,759 were female (40.8%).
Popularity
Kris: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kris from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 11,310 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kris 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 Kris during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kris' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Michigan, New York recorded the most babies named Kris, while Nevada, Alaska, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 459 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kris
The name Kris has its origins in the Greek language and is derived from the word "Christos," which means "anointed one." It is a shortened version of the name Kristos or Christopher and has been in use since ancient times.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Kris was often associated with followers of Christ or those who had been baptized. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in Greek and Latin texts from the 4th and 5th centuries AD.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Kris was Kris of Lyon, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. He was beheaded for his faith and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Another notable figure was Kris the Hermit, a Byzantine monk who lived in the 6th century AD. He was known for his ascetic lifestyle and was considered a holy man by his contemporaries.
In the Middle Ages, the name Kris became more widespread across Europe. One famous bearer of the name was Kris the Dane, a Danish Viking who raided parts of England in the 9th century AD.
During the Renaissance period, the name Kris gained popularity among artists and intellectuals. One such individual was Kris Plantin, a renowned Flemish printer and publisher who lived from 1520 to 1589.
In more recent history, there have been several notable individuals named Kris. One example is Kris Kristofferson, an American singer, songwriter, and actor born in 1936. He is known for his contributions to country music and films such as "A Star Is Born."
Another famous Kris is Kris Bryant, an American professional baseball player born in 1992. He won the National League Rookie of the Year award in 2015 and has been an All-Star multiple times.
Kris Jenner, an American media personality and businesswoman born in 1955, is also well-known. She is the matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner family and has been instrumental in their rise to fame.
Overall, the name Kris has a rich history that spans centuries and cultures, from its Greek origins to its modern-day use around the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kris
People
Kris + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kris 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
Kris: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kris?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,594 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kris 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 14,527 US residents.
Is Kris a common name?
We classify Kris as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27,925 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kris most popular?
The single biggest year for Kris was 1965, when 1,387 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kris is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kris in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 33,730 people with the name Kris, or 11.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,166 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 Kris 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 Kris?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kris on both sides of the split. Of the 33,727 people counted with this name, 19,968 were male (59.2%) and 13,759 were female (40.8%). 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 Kris?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kris is White at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Kris most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kris in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.2% (26,710 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 Kris in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kris a male name?
Yes, 51.4% of people registered as Kris in the SSA data are male. 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 Kris still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kris 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 Kris 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 Kris?
Find out how many Americans are named Kris on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.