Trystan
A masculine name of Celtic origin meaning "tumult" or "loud noise".
Name Census estimates that about 5,084 living Americans carry the first name Trystan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Trystan today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Trystan births was 2010 (249 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Trystan. 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 Trystan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.1K
~ 1 in 67,418 Americans
Peak year
2010
249 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,853
Tracked since 1982
Census
Trystan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,391 people with the first name Trystan, which placed it at #4,313 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
#4,313
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,391 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Trystan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trystan is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Two or More Races (9.1%). 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 Trystan 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 Trystan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.0% · 2,942
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 550
- Two or more races9.1% · 398
- Black or African American7.9% · 345
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 107
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 49
Gender
Gender distribution for Trystan
Trystan leans heavily male at 87.2% of total registrations, but 660 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Trystan as a male name
- Ranked #4,853 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (225 births)
Trystan as a female name
- Ranked #13,697 in 2019
- 7 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1996 (46 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Trystan leans strongly male. 3,748 people counted with this name were male (85.4%), compared with 640 female bearers (14.6%).
Popularity
Trystan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Trystan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,066 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Trystan 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 Trystan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Trystans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Trystan, while South Carolina, New Jersey, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Trystan
The name Trystan originates from the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in ancient Britain. It is derived from the elements "tryst" meaning "sad" or "sorrowful" and the noun suffix "-an". The name was initially spelled as Tristan or Tristram.
The name gained widespread popularity due to its association with the tragic medieval romance of Tristan and Iseult, a story made famous by the 12th century French poet Béroul and the 13th century Norman poet Thomas of Britain. In this legend, Tristan is a knight of the Arthurian era who falls in love with the beautiful Iseult, who is betrothed to his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing this name was Tristan of Naunteuil, a French crusader who participated in the Third Crusade (1189-1192) and later became the Lord of Naunteuil in Champagne, France. Another notable historical figure was Tristan de Salazar (c. 1510-1573), a Spanish conquistador and explorer who played a significant role in the conquest of Peru alongside Francisco Pizarro.
In the 15th century, Sir Tristan de Leonnoys was a legendary knight featured in the Arthurian romances of Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur". While his historical existence is uncertain, he was portrayed as one of the greatest knights of the Round Table, known for his bravery and skill in combat.
The name also appears in religious texts, such as the medieval French poem "La Vie de Saint Tristan", which tells the story of a 6th-century Breton saint and hermit named Tristan, who founded a monastery in Brittany, France.
Other famous individuals with the name Trystan include Trystan Edwards (1637-1711), a Welsh Anglican clergyman and author; Trystan Gravelle (born 1981), a Welsh actor known for his roles in "Belgravia" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"; and Trystan Reese (born 1975), an American professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals.
People
Trystan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Trystan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Trystan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Trystan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,084 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Trystan 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 67,418 US residents.
Is Trystan a common name?
We classify Trystan as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,154 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Trystan most popular?
The single biggest year for Trystan was 2010, when 249 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Trystan is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Trystan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,391 people with the name Trystan, or 1.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,313 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 Trystan 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 Trystan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Trystan leans strongly male. 3,748 people counted with this name were male (85.4%), compared with 640 female bearers (14.6%). 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 Trystan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Trystan is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Two or More Races (9.1%). 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 Trystan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Trystan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.0% (2,942 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 Trystan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Trystan a male name?
Yes, 87.2% of people registered as Trystan 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 Trystan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Trystan 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 Trystan 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 Trystan?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Trystan at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.