Kursten
A feminine variant of the German name "Kurt", meaning "counsel" or "advice".
Name Census estimates that about 272 living Americans carry the first name Kursten. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kursten today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kursten births was 1997 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kursten. 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.
People living today
272
~ 1 in 1,260,126 Americans
Peak year
1997
21 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2008 SSA rank
#12,143
Tracked since 1973
Census
Kursten in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 331 people with the first name Kursten, which placed it at #27,567 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
#27,567
National first-name rank
People counted
331
331 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kursten
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kursten is White at 79.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.9%). 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 Kursten 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 Kursten at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.5% · 263
- Black or African American12.1% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.9% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 9
- Two or more races1.8% · 6
Popularity
Kursten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kursten from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 129 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kursten 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 Kursten during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kurstens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kursten
The name Kursten is a relatively modern variant of the Germanic name Kirsten, which has its origins in the medieval Dutch name Kersten. This name is derived from the ancient Germanic word "Kirst," meaning "follower of Christ." The name has been in use since the Middle Ages in various parts of Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia.
In the early Christian era, the name Kirsten was often given to individuals who were devout followers of Christianity, as it symbolized their commitment to the faith. While the name Kursten is a more recent spelling variation, it carries the same religious connotations as its earlier forms.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kursten can be found in Dutch historical records from the 16th century, where it was used as a feminine given name. However, the name's popularity spread across Europe, and it was adopted in various forms throughout the centuries.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Kursten or its variants include:
1. Kirsten Flagstad (1895-1962), a renowned Norwegian opera singer known for her powerful interpretations of Wagner's works.
2. Kirsten Dunst (born 1982), an American actress who rose to fame as a child star and has since established herself as a versatile performer in both independent and mainstream films.
3. Kirsten Gillibrand (born 1966), an American politician and current United States Senator from New York.
4. Kirsten Oleson (1370-1439), a Danish noblewoman and landowner who played a significant role in the administration of her family's estates during the late Middle Ages.
5. Kirsten Simone Valenzuela (1892-1968), a Chilean poet and writer who was a prominent figure in the country's literary scene during the early 20th century.
While the name Kursten is not as common as its more traditional counterparts, it has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in certain regions of Europe. Its origins can be traced back to the early days of Christianity, and it has been borne by notable individuals across various fields, from the arts to politics and literature.
People
Kursten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kursten 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
Kursten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kursten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 272 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kursten 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 1,260,126 US residents.
Is Kursten a common name?
We classify Kursten as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kursten most popular?
The single biggest year for Kursten was 1997, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kursten is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kursten in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 331 people with the name Kursten, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,567 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 Kursten 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 Kursten?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kursten leans strongly female. 300 people counted with this name were female (89.0%), compared with 37 male bearers (11.0%). 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 Kursten?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kursten is White at 79.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.9%). 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 Kursten most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kursten in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.5% (263 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 Kursten in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kursten a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kursten 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 Kursten still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kursten 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 Kursten 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 Kursten?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.