Girls' name · peaked in 1982
Kristen name popularity since 1925
220,952 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Kristen (99.0% girls, 1.0% boys). Half of them were born in 1985 or earlier, so the typical Kristen is about 41 years old in 2026. Kristen peaked in 1982 as the #33 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 220,952
- Named Kristen, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,999 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.0% girls
- 218,767 girls · 2,185 boys
- Most popular in
- Rhode Island
- 2.56× its national share
Peak year is the year Kristen made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Kristen births per year, 1925–2025
1982 was the biggest year for Kristen both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1961 and 1966, Kristen became 5.1× more common, from 1 in 3,740 baby girls to 1 in 728.
- Steepest fall: Between 1996 and 2001, its share of baby girls fell by 60%, from 1 in 361 to 1 in 904.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Kristen's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Kristen.
Decade by decade
Babies named Kristen in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1930s | 20 | 0 | Under 5 |
| 1940s | 776 | 20 | #1,070 |
| 1950s | 2,811 | 102 | #612 |
| 1960s | 18,039 | 229 | #191 |
| 1970s | 44,206 | 597 | #60 |
| 1980s | 83,228 | 605 | #38 |
| 1990s | 53,075 | 338 | #65 |
| 2000s | 12,558 | 138 | #326 |
| 2010s | 3,244 | 102 | #890 |
| 2020–25 | 810 | 54 | #1,999 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000. "Under 5" means fewer than 5 girls got the name.
Generation fingerprint
54.1% of babies named Kristen from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Millennial years (1981–1996). The full split by generation:
Where Kristen is most popular
The index compares Kristen's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Kristen.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | 2.56× | 1,989 |
| New Hampshire | 2.10× | 1,451 |
| Massachusetts | 1.88× | 9,802 |
| Connecticut | 1.75× | 4,174 |
| Delaware | 1.51× | 690 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Kristen and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Kristen (this page) | 218,767 | 1982 |
| Kristin | 179,313 | 1981 |
| Kirsten | 53,181 | 1991 |
| Kristyn | 8,830 | 1990 |
| Kristan | 5,545 | 1985 |
| Krysten | 4,038 | 1988 |
| Cristen | 2,655 | 1982 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Kristen's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Kristen.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Kristen (1982).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data