Trista
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "sorrowful" or "melancholy".
Name Census estimates that about 11,852 living Americans carry the first name Trista. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Trista today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Trista births was 1984 (1,215 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Trista. 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
12K
~ 1 in 28,920 Americans
Peak year
1984
1,215 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1986 SSA rank
#7,752
Tracked since 1960
Gender
Gender distribution for Trista
Out of the 12,463 babies given the name Trista since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Trista as a male name
- Ranked #7,752 in 1986
- 5 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1986 (5 births)
Trista as a female name
- Ranked #13,313 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1984 (1,215 births)
Popularity
Trista: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Trista from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 4,971 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
Trista 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 Trista during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tristas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Trista, while Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 200 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Trista
The name Trista is a feminine given name with origins in both Latin and Greek languages. It is believed to have derived from the Latin word "tristis," meaning "sad" or "sorrowful." The Greek equivalent of this word is "tristos," which carries a similar connotation.
Historically, the name Trista was not widely used or recorded until the late 19th century. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the 1892 novel "The Prisoner of Zenda" by Anthony Hope, where a minor character bears the name.
In ancient texts and religious scriptures, there are no direct mentions of the name Trista itself. However, the Latin word "tristis" appears in various works, including Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphoses, reflecting the melancholic or somber themes associated with the word's meaning.
The earliest recorded individual with the name Trista was Trista da Cunha, a Portuguese explorer born around 1460. She is credited with the discovery of the remote Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Another notable figure with the name Trista was Trista di Benedetto Malatesta (1453-1509), an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts during the Renaissance period. She was known for her patronage of artists and writers, including the renowned poet Pietro Bembo.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous individuals named Trista was Trista Zara (1916-1993), an American actress and singer. She appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career and was known for her versatility as a performer.
Another notable Trista was Trista Sutter (born 1972), an American reality television personality who gained fame as the winner of the first season of the popular dating show "The Bachelorette" in 2003.
Lastly, Trista Mateer (born 1981) is a contemporary American poet and writer. Her works have been published in various literary journals and anthologies, and she has received several awards and recognitions for her poetic contributions.
While the name Trista has a somewhat somber origin, it has been embraced and celebrated by individuals throughout history, each leaving their unique mark in various fields and pursuits.
People
Trista + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Trista as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Trista: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Trista?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,852 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Trista 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 28,920 US residents.
Is Trista a common name?
We classify Trista as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,463 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Trista most popular?
The single biggest year for Trista was 1984, when 1,215 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Trista is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Trista a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Trista 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.
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.