Kirstin
A feminine name of English origin from a medieval diminutive of Christian.
Name Census estimates that about 8,268 living Americans carry the first name Kirstin. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kirstin today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kirstin births was 1990 (413 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kirstin. 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 Kirstin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.3K
~ 1 in 41,456 Americans
Peak year
1990
413 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,452
Tracked since 1942
Census
Kirstin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,231 people with the first name Kirstin, which placed it at #2,810 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
#2,810
National first-name rank
People counted
8.2K
8,231 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kirstin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirstin is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Kirstin 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 Kirstin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.9% · 6,991
- Black or African American5.2% · 426
- Two or more races4.1% · 336
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 301
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 109
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 68
Popularity
Kirstin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kirstin from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 3,108 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
Kirstin 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 Kirstin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kirstins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Kirstin, while West Virginia, Montana, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 168 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kirstin
The name Kirstin is of ancient Germanic origin, derived from the word "Christen," which means "follower of Christ." It is a variant of the name Christina, which has its roots in the Greek name Χριστίνα (Khristína), meaning "Christian."
Kirstin first emerged in the Middle Ages, primarily in Scandinavia and parts of Northern Europe. It was originally a feminine form of the male name Christian, which was commonly used among early converts to Christianity in these regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kirstin can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of medieval Icelandic literature written between the 12th and 14th centuries. In these sagas, Kirstin is mentioned as the name of several female characters, indicating its widespread usage at the time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kirstin. One of the earliest was Kirstin Svendsdatter (1608-1674), a Norwegian noblewoman and landowner who played a significant role in the economic development of her region.
Another prominent Kirstin was Kirstin Flagstad (1895-1962), a renowned Norwegian opera singer widely regarded as one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos of the 20th century. Her interpretations of Wagner's operatic roles were highly acclaimed and influential.
In the literary world, Kirstin Ekman (1933-2022) was a Swedish author and journalist who wrote several critically acclaimed novels and short story collections, exploring themes of rural life and the human condition.
Kirstin Downey (born 1949) is an American journalist and author known for her biographies of influential figures such as Frances Perkins, the first female member of the United States Cabinet, and Ida B. Wells, a pioneering African American journalist and activist.
Kirstin Maldonado (born 1992) is a contemporary American singer and member of the acclaimed a cappella group Pentatonix. Her powerful vocals have contributed to the group's numerous awards and chart-topping albums.
While the name Kirstin has evolved and taken on various spellings over time, its essence remains rooted in its ancient Germanic origins, reflecting the rich cultural and religious heritage of Northern Europe.
People
Kirstin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kirstin 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
Kirstin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kirstin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,268 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kirstin 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 41,456 US residents.
Is Kirstin a common name?
We classify Kirstin as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,778 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kirstin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kirstin was 1990, when 413 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kirstin is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kirstin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,231 people with the name Kirstin, or 2.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,810 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 Kirstin 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 Kirstin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kirstin appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,232 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Kirstin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kirstin is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Kirstin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kirstin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.9% (6,991 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 Kirstin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kirstin a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kirstin 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 Kirstin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kirstin 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 Kirstin 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 Kirstin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.