Kristin
A feminine name of Germanic origin meaning "follower of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 164,999 living Americans carry the first name Kristin. It is a predominantly female name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Kristin today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kristin births was 1981 (9,801 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kristin. 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 Kristin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kristin is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,638 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Kristin have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
165K
~ 1 in 2,077 Americans
Peak year
1981
9,801 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2019 SSA rank
#4,509
Tracked since 1932
Census
Kristin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 163,323 people with the first name Kristin, which placed it at #342 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
#342
National first-name rank
People counted
163K
163,323 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
54.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kristin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristin is White at 89.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Black (2.7%). 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 Kristin 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 Kristin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.3% · 145,897
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 5,537
- Black or African American2.7% · 4,404
- Two or more races2.7% · 4,391
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 2,417
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 677
Gender
Gender distribution for Kristin
Out of the 180,924 babies given the name Kristin since 1880, 99.1% 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.
Kristin as a male name
- Ranked #9,374 in 2019
- 8 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1974 (82 births)
Kristin as a female name
- Ranked #4,509 in 2024
- 31 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1981 (9,737 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristin appears almost entirely female. Of the 163,325 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kristin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kristin 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 71,041 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
Kristin 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 Kristin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kristins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Kristin, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,477 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kristin
Kristin is a feminine given name of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Old Norse name Kristín. It is a variant of the Greek name Χριστίνη (Christínē), which means "a Christian woman" or "follower of Christ." The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in the Nordic countries.
The name Kristin has been in use since the Viking Age, with some of the earliest recorded examples dating back to the 12th century. One of the first known bearers of the name was Kristin Sigurdsdotter, a Norwegian noblewoman who lived in the late 12th century. She was the daughter of Sigurd Jarlsson and was married to Erling Skakke, a powerful Norwegian chieftain.
In the 13th century, Saint Kristin or Christina the Astonishing (1150-1224) was a Belgian saint known for her extreme asceticism and unusual behavior. She was believed to have been in a state of suspended animation for several years and was revered for her devotion to Christ.
Another notable figure was Kristin Lavransdotter (1265-1349), a Norwegian woman who was the subject of the historical novels "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Undset. Undset won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928 for her depiction of life in medieval Scandinavia through the character of Kristin.
In the 16th century, Kristin Münstermann (1508-1589) was a German Protestant reformer and writer who advocated for the education of women and the right of women to read the Bible. She was a prominent figure in the Reformation movement and wrote several influential works.
In more recent history, Kristin Linklater (1936-2020) was a renowned Scottish actress and voice coach who developed the Linklater method of vocal training for actors. Her techniques have been widely adopted in theater programs around the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kristin
People
Kristin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kristin 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
Kristin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kristin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 164,999 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kristin 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 2,077 US residents.
Is Kristin a common name?
We classify Kristin as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 180,924 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kristin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kristin was 1981, when 9,801 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kristin is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kristin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 163,323 people with the name Kristin, or 54.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #342 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 Kristin 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 Kristin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristin appears almost entirely female. Of the 163,325 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 Kristin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristin is White at 89.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Black (2.7%). 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 Kristin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kristin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.3% (145,897 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 Kristin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kristin a female name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Kristin 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 Kristin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kristin 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 Kristin 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 share the name Kristin?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.