Kristoffer
A masculine Scandinavian name derived from "Christ-bearer" or "follower of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 3,754 living Americans carry the first name Kristoffer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kristoffer today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kristoffer births was 1978 (305 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kristoffer. 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 Kristoffer with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 91,304 Americans
Peak year
1978
305 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,034
Tracked since 1967
Census
Kristoffer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,277 people with the first name Kristoffer, which placed it at #5,294 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
#5,294
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,277 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kristoffer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristoffer is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.6%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Kristoffer 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 Kristoffer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.4% · 2,077
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.6% · 512
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 258
- Black or African American7.0% · 228
- Two or more races5.6% · 183
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 19
Popularity
Kristoffer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kristoffer from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,275 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kristoffer 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 Kristoffer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kristoffers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Kristoffer, while Tennessee, Maryland, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 64 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kristoffer
The name Kristoffer originates from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (Christophoros), meaning "Christ-bearer" or "bearer of Christ". It is derived from the Greek words Χριστός (Christos), meaning "Christ", and φέρω (phero), meaning "to bear" or "to carry".
The name first appeared in the Christian tradition, as it referred to the legendary figure of Saint Christopher, who was said to have carried the Christ child across a river. This story is believed to have originated in the 7th century, and it quickly became popular throughout the Christian world.
The first recorded example of the name Kristoffer can be found in the Old Norse form Kristofer, which was used in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. It was later adapted to various spellings in different languages, such as Christoffer in Danish, Christofer in Swedish, and Kristoffer in Norwegian and Icelandic.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Kristoffer was Kristoffer of Bavaria (1416-1448), a German prince and duke of Bavaria-Munich. Another prominent bearer of the name was Kristoffer of Denmark (1276-1332), who reigned as King of Denmark from 1319 to 1326.
In the 16th century, Kristoffer Valkendorf (1525-1601) was a Danish statesman and military leader who played a significant role in the Northern Seven Years' War against Sweden. A century later, Kristoffer Giedde (1638-1717) was a Norwegian-Danish naval officer and governor of Greenland.
In the 19th century, Kristoffer Janson (1841-1917) was a Norwegian author and journalist who wrote extensively about rural life in Norway. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Norwegian realist movement in literature.
Another notable bearer of the name was Kristoffer Alnæs (1938-2003), a Norwegian actor and comedian known for his work in television and film. He was particularly famous for his role in the popular Norwegian comedy series "Flåklypa Grand Prix" from the 1970s.
People
Kristoffer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kristoffer 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
Kristoffer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kristoffer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,754 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kristoffer 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 91,304 US residents.
Is Kristoffer a common name?
We classify Kristoffer as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,928 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kristoffer most popular?
The single biggest year for Kristoffer was 1978, when 305 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kristoffer 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 Kristoffer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,277 people with the name Kristoffer, or 1.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,294 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 Kristoffer 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 Kristoffer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristoffer appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,270 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Kristoffer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristoffer is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (15.6%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Kristoffer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kristoffer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.4% (2,077 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 Kristoffer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kristoffer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kristoffer 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 Kristoffer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kristoffer 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 Kristoffer 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 Kristoffer?
Want to know how many people share the name Kristoffer? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.