Tristine
Feminine variant of the French name Tristan, meaning "sad" or "sorrowful".
Name Census estimates that about 198 living Americans carry the first name Tristine. It is a predominantly female name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Tristine today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tristine births was 1996 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tristine. 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
198
~ 1 in 1,731,083 Americans
Peak year
1996
21 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
1996 SSA rank
#10,437
Tracked since 1971
Census
Tristine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 298 people with the first name Tristine, which placed it at #29,601 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
#29,601
National first-name rank
People counted
298
298 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tristine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tristine is White at 55.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.8%) and Hispanic (10.1%). 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 Tristine 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 Tristine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.4% · 165
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.8% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino10.1% · 30
- Black or African American9.4% · 28
- Two or more races4.7% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Tristine
Tristine leans heavily female at 97.6% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tristine as a male name
- Ranked #10,437 in 1996
- 5 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1996 (5 births)
Tristine as a female name
- Ranked #16,085 in 2016
- 6 female births in 2016
- Peak: 1996 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tristine leans strongly female. 266 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 31 male bearers (10.4%).
Popularity
Tristine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tristine from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 75 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tristine 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 Tristine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tristines live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tristine
The name Tristine is believed to have originated from the Old French name Tristan, which itself is derived from the Brythonic Celtic name Drystän or Drystan. The name Tristan gained widespread popularity across Europe due to the influential medieval tale of Tristan and Iseult, a tragic romance centered around the legendary Tristan of Leonois.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tristine can be traced back to the 12th century, where it appeared as a feminine variation of the masculine name Tristan. It is thought that the addition of the "-ine" suffix was influenced by the French language, as it was a common practice to create feminine forms of masculine names during this period.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Tristine was Tristine de Vergy, a French noblewoman who lived in the late 12th century. She was the subject of a famous medieval tale of courtly love, "The Châtelaine of Vergy," which recounted her tragic love affair with a knight.
In the 13th century, a Tristine de Cressonsacq was recorded as a member of the French nobility, indicating the name's continued use among the aristocracy of the time.
During the Renaissance, the name Tristine appeared in several literary works, including the 1592 play "The Tragedy of Tristine" by French playwright Robert Garnier. This play explored the tragic love story of Tristine and her lover Regnault, drawing inspiration from the medieval legend of Tristan and Iseult.
In the 17th century, Tristine de Murinais was a French courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie de' Medici, the wife of King Henry IV of France.
Another notable figure who bore the name Tristine was Tristine Renée de France, a French princess who lived in the late 17th century. She was the daughter of Louis XIV, the Sun King, and his mistress, Madame de Montespan.
While the name Tristine has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has continued to appear sporadically across various cultures and time periods, often among individuals of noble or literary backgrounds. Its enduring connection to the legendary figure of Tristan has contributed to its persistent, if somewhat rare, use over the centuries.
People
Tristine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tristine 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
Tristine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tristine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 198 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tristine 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 1,731,083 US residents.
Is Tristine a common name?
We classify Tristine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 206 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tristine most popular?
The single biggest year for Tristine was 1996, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tristine is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tristine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 298 people with the name Tristine, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,601 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 Tristine 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 Tristine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tristine leans strongly female. 266 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 31 male bearers (10.4%). 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 Tristine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tristine is White at 55.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.8%) and Hispanic (10.1%). 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 Tristine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tristine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.4% (165 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 Tristine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tristine a female name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Tristine 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 Tristine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tristine 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 Tristine 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 Tristine?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.