Kristen
A feminine given name of Greek origin meaning "Christian" or "follower of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 205,388 living Americans carry the first name Kristen. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Kristen today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kristen births was 1982 (9,595 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kristen. 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 Kristen with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kristen is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,175 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Kristen have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
205K
~ 1 in 1,669 Americans
Peak year
1982
9,595 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,278
Tracked since 1938
Census
Kristen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 199,108 people with the first name Kristen, which placed it at #278 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
#278
National first-name rank
People counted
199K
199,108 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
65.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kristen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristen is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Kristen 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 Kristen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 170,798
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 9,947
- Black or African American3.9% · 7,691
- Two or more races3.1% · 6,086
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 3,577
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,009
Gender
Gender distribution for Kristen
Out of the 220,847 babies given the name Kristen since 1880, 99.0% 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.
Kristen as a male name
- Ranked #9,458 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (71 births)
Kristen as a female name
- Ranked #1,278 in 2024
- 181 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (9,533 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristen appears almost entirely female. Of the 199,107 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kristen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kristen from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 83,831 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
Kristen 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 Kristen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kristens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Kristen, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,257 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kristen
The name Kristen is a variant of the Greek name Christos, meaning "anointed" or "the anointed one". It is derived from the word "Khristós", which was a translation of the Hebrew word "Mashiach", meaning Messiah or Christ. The name Kristen can trace its roots back to the early days of Christianity, when it was used to refer to followers of Christ.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kristen can be found in the writings of the early Christian theologian, Tertullian, who lived in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. He used the name "Christianus" to refer to Christians, which is a Latin form of the Greek name Christos.
In the Middle Ages, the name Kristen gained popularity across Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Germany. It was often used as a unisex name, with both men and women bearing the name. One notable example is Kristen Lagerfeldt, a Swedish statesman and diplomat who lived in the 17th century (1647-1692).
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, the name Kristen became increasingly common. In England, it was often spelled as "Crysten" or "Crystyn". One famous bearer of the name was Crysten de Pisan, a 15th-century Italian-French writer and philosopher (1364-1430).
In the 16th century, the name Kristen was also popular among Protestant reformers. Martin Kristen, a German theologian and reformer (1532-1607), was a prominent figure during the Protestant Reformation.
Another notable bearer of the name was Kristen Monrad, a 19th-century Norwegian statesman and prime minister (1816-1897). He played a significant role in the formation of the modern Norwegian state.
During the 20th century, the name Kristen gained even more popularity, particularly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. One of the most famous bearers of the name is Kristen Stewart, the American actress known for her role in the Twilight movie series (born in 1990).
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kristen
People
Kristen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kristen 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
Kristen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kristen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 205,388 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kristen 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 1,669 US residents.
Is Kristen a common name?
We classify Kristen as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 220,847 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kristen most popular?
The single biggest year for Kristen was 1982, when 9,595 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kristen is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kristen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 199,108 people with the name Kristen, or 65.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #278 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 Kristen 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 Kristen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristen appears almost entirely female. Of the 199,107 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Kristen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristen is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Kristen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kristen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (170,798 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 Kristen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kristen a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Kristen 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 Kristen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kristen 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 Kristen 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 common is the name Kristen?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.