Kristan
Masculine name of Greek origin derived from "Christianos" meaning "follower of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 5,691 living Americans carry the first name Kristan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Kristan today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kristan births was 1985 (256 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kristan. 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 Kristan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.7K
~ 1 in 60,227 Americans
Peak year
1985
256 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,382
Tracked since 1945
Census
Kristan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,618 people with the first name Kristan, which placed it at #3,635 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
#3,635
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,618 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kristan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristan is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Kristan 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 Kristan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.8% · 4,425
- Black or African American9.4% · 526
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 353
- Two or more races2.9% · 164
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 96
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 54
Gender
Gender distribution for Kristan
Kristan leans heavily female at 89.6% of total registrations, but 645 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kristan as a male name
- Ranked #11,382 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1979 (26 births)
Kristan as a female name
- Ranked #16,878 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1985 (242 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristan leans strongly female. 5,035 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 585 male bearers (10.4%).
Popularity
Kristan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kristan from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 2,209 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
Kristan 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 Kristan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kristans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kristan, while Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 91 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kristan
The given name Kristan has its origins in the late Greek language, deriving from the word "Christos" meaning "the anointed one" or "Christ". It emerged as a name during the early centuries of Christianity, when the religion was spreading across Europe and the Mediterranean region. The name was initially popularized among Christian communities in areas like Greece, Italy, and parts of the Middle East.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Kristan can be found in Byzantine chronicles from the 6th century AD, referring to a Christian saint or martyr. However, the name gained more widespread use during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions influenced by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Empire.
During the medieval period, the name Kristan was also adopted by some noble families in Western Europe, such as in France and Germany. One notable figure bearing this name was Kristan von Hamle, a 12th-century German knight and crusader who participated in the Third Crusade under the command of Frederick I Barbarossa.
In the Renaissance era, the name Kristan appeared in various literary works and historical records. For instance, Kristan de Troyes was a 12th-century French poet and author, known for his romantic literature and his contribution to the Arthurian legend. Another prominent figure with this name was Kristan Vasa, a 16th-century Swedish prince and duke, who played a significant role in the Uppsala Synod of 1593.
As the name spread across Europe, it also found use in different linguistic variations, such as Cristian in Spanish and Portuguese, Cristiano in Italian, and Kristian in Scandinavian languages. One notable bearer of the name was Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese football superstar who was born in 1985 and is considered one of the greatest players of all time.
Other historical figures with the name Kristan include Kristian IV, the 16th-century King of Denmark and Norway, who reigned from 1588 to 1648 and is known for his patronage of the arts and sciences. Kristian Birkeland, a Norwegian scientist born in 1867, made significant contributions to the study of auroras and atmospheric electricity. Kristian Zahrtmann, a Danish painter and artist born in 1843, was renowned for his realistic and historical paintings depicting scenes from Danish life and culture.
People
Kristan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kristan 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
Kristan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kristan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,691 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kristan 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 60,227 US residents.
Is Kristan a common name?
We classify Kristan as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kristan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kristan was 1985, when 256 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kristan is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kristan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,618 people with the name Kristan, or 1.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,635 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 Kristan 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 Kristan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristan leans strongly female. 5,035 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 585 male bearers (10.4%). 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 Kristan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristan is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Kristan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kristan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (4,425 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 Kristan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kristan a female name?
Yes, 89.6% of people registered as Kristan 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 Kristan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kristan 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 Kristan 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 Americans are named Kristan?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.