Krystle
A feminine name of English origin meaning "crystal clear".
Name Census estimates that about 12,295 living Americans carry the first name Krystle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Krystle today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Krystle births was 1985 (2,588 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Krystle. 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 Krystle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Krystle have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 27,878 Americans
Peak year
1985
2,588 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1989 SSA rank
#6,625
Tracked since 1969
Census
Krystle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,086 people with the first name Krystle, which placed it at #2,314 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
#2,314
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,086 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Krystle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Krystle is White at 56.0%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (15.4%). 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 Krystle 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 Krystle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.0% · 6,205
- Black or African American18.3% · 2,025
- Hispanic or Latino15.4% · 1,710
- Two or more races4.8% · 530
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 520
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 96
Gender
Gender distribution for Krystle
Out of the 12,983 babies given the name Krystle since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Krystle as a male name
- Ranked #6,625 in 1989
- 7 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1986 (10 births)
Krystle as a female name
- Ranked #17,666 in 2016
- 5 female births in 2016
- Peak: 1985 (2,579 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Krystle appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,089 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Krystle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Krystle from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 10,913 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
Krystle 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 Krystle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Krystles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Krystle, while North Dakota, Montana, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 250 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Krystle
The name Krystle is a modern English variant of the name Crystal, which derives from the Greek word "krystallos" meaning "ice" or "crystal." It is thought to have emerged as a given name in the early 20th century, although its precise origins are unclear.
Records indicate that the name Krystle first appeared in the United States in the 1940s, likely as a creative spelling variation of the more traditional Crystal. It gained popularity in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly after the character Krystle Carrington was introduced in the popular television series Dynasty in 1981.
While the name Krystle does not have deep historical roots or any known appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout the years. One of the earliest recorded examples is Krystle Brier, an American actress born in 1954, who appeared in various television shows and films in the 1970s and 1980s.
Another notable Krystle was Krystle Villanueva, a Filipina model and actress born in 1980, who won the Miss Earth Philippines pageant in 2000 and represented her country in the Miss Earth pageant. Krystle D'Souza, an Indian actress born in 1990, is also known for her roles in various Hindi television series.
In the world of sports, Krystle Esdelle is a former professional basketball player from the Bahamas, born in 1983, who played for several teams in the WNBA and overseas. Krystle Clark, an Australian rules footballer born in 1993, has also made a name for herself in the Australian Football League Women's (AFLW) competition.
These individuals, while not necessarily historically significant, have contributed to the popularity and recognition of the name Krystle in their respective fields and regions.
People
Krystle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Krystle 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
Krystle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Krystle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,295 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Krystle 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 27,878 US residents.
Is Krystle a common name?
We classify Krystle as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,983 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Krystle most popular?
The single biggest year for Krystle was 1985, when 2,588 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Krystle is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Krystle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,086 people with the name Krystle, or 3.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,314 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 Krystle 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 Krystle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Krystle appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,089 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Krystle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Krystle is White at 56.0%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (15.4%). 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 Krystle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Krystle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.0% (6,205 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 Krystle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Krystle a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Krystle 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 Krystle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Krystle 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 Krystle 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 Krystle?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.