Kristoff
A Scandinavian masculine name derived from Old Norse meaning "bearer of Christ".
Name Census estimates that about 585 living Americans carry the first name Kristoff. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kristoff today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kristoff births was 2015 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kristoff. 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 Kristoff with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
585
~ 1 in 585,905 Americans
Peak year
2015
41 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,333
Tracked since 1977
Census
Kristoff in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 603 people with the first name Kristoff, which placed it at #18,003 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
#18,003
National first-name rank
People counted
603
603 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kristoff
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristoff is Black at 35.3%. The next largest groups are White (31.3%) and Hispanic (16.1%). 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 Kristoff 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 Kristoff at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.3% · 213
- White31.3% · 189
- Hispanic or Latino16.1% · 97
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 58
- Two or more races6.6% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 6
Popularity
Kristoff: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kristoff from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 202 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kristoff remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kristoff 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 Kristoff during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kristoffs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Kristoff, while Indiana, Texas, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kristoff
Kristoff is a masculine given name of Old Norse origin, derived from the elements "Christ" and "hofr," meaning "Christ" and "courtly" or "noble" respectively. The name entered widespread use in Scandinavia during the medieval period, particularly in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kristoff can be found in the Icelandic sagas, which date back to the 13th century. These literary works often featured characters with traditional Norse names, reflecting the cultural and linguistic heritage of the region.
During the Viking Age, from the late 8th to the late 11th century, the name Kristoff was occasionally adopted by Norse settlers who converted to Christianity. It served as a way to preserve their cultural identity while embracing the new faith, blending the elements of "Christ" and "noble."
In the 16th century, a notable bearer of the name was Kristoff Galen, a renowned botanist and physician from Germany (1510-1578). He made significant contributions to the study of plant life and is considered one of the founders of modern pharmacology.
Another historical figure with the name Kristoff was Kristoff Karlsson Leijonhufvud (1609-1656), a Swedish military officer who played a crucial role in the Thirty Years' War. He served as a field marshal under King Gustavus Adolphus and later became a member of the Swedish Privy Council.
In the 18th century, Kristoff Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), a German composer, was a prominent figure in the operatic reform movement. His works, such as "Orfeo ed Euridice" and "Alceste," helped establish a more natural and expressive style of opera.
Moving into the 19th century, Kristoff Georg Nerly (1806-1856) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator known for his romantic landscape paintings and illustrations of Norwegian folk tales and legends.
Finally, in the 20th century, Kristoff Kristoffersen (1909-1994) was a Norwegian writer and journalist who received the prestigious Nordahl Grieg Prize for his literary works.
People
Kristoff + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kristoff 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
Kristoff: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kristoff?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 585 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kristoff 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 585,905 US residents.
Is Kristoff a common name?
We classify Kristoff as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 594 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kristoff most popular?
The single biggest year for Kristoff was 2015, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kristoff is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kristoff in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 603 people with the name Kristoff, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,003 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 Kristoff 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 Kristoff?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kristoff appears almost entirely male. Of the 594 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Kristoff?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kristoff is Black at 35.3%. The next largest groups are White (31.3%) and Hispanic (16.1%). 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 Kristoff most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kristoff in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.3% (213 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 Kristoff in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kristoff a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kristoff 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 Kristoff still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kristoff 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 Kristoff 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 have the name Kristoff?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.