Kristen
- Pronunciation
- [Kris-ten]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Variant Of Christiana. Follower Of Christ.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Kristen
Kristen is an anglicised variant of the Scandinavian and English Christian-root name Christiana or Christina, which descends from the Latin Christianus and the Greek Christianos, meaning "follower of Christ" or "the anointed." The -en ending distinguishes it from Kristin and Christine, and reflects a Danish and Norwegian feminine spelling tradition. As one of several closely related variants circulating simultaneously in American culture during the 1970s–1990s, Kristen represented the more anglicised end of the Scandinavian-Christian-name family.
Two prominent actresses have given Kristen a strong contemporary profile. Kristen Bell (born 1980) is an American actress whose three-decade career has produced multiple defining roles, particularly her 2004–2007 lead as Veronica Mars on UPN's mystery-drama series Veronica Mars. Kristen Stewart (born 1990) is an American actress and filmmaker whose career has produced multiple defining roles, particularly her tenure as Bella Swan across the Twilight film franchise.
Kristen first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 1969 and peaked in 1982 at rank #33, accumulating over 193,000 top-1000 births across its tracked run. It remained in the top-1000 through 2015, sitting at #890 that year — a run of more than four decades that places it among the more durable feminine names of its generation. Recorded variants include Kristan and Kristin.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Kristen
US Popularity History (1969–2015)
Annual US births named Kristen by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1982 with 9,533 girls named Kristen (girl rank #33 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2015, ranked #890 for girls (310 US births). That's 857 places below its 1982 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Kristen Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Kristen the strongest states are South Carolina, Maryland, Indiana.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina | #666 | 20 |
| 2 | Maryland | #740 | 21 |
| 3 | Indiana | #893 | 21 |
| 4 | New Jersey | #923 | 23 |
| 5 | New York | #1,146 | 61 |
| 6 | California | #1,439 | 76 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | #1,439 | 76 |
| 2 | New York | #1,146 | 61 |
| 3 | New Jersey | #923 | 23 |
| 4 | Indiana | #893 | 21 |
| 5 | Maryland | #740 | 21 |
| 6 | South Carolina | #666 | 20 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Kristen in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kristin | The Anointed | Female | Greek |
Famous People Named Kristen
2 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Kristen.
- Kristen Bell — TV Actress (1980)
- Kristen Stewart — Movie Actress (1990)
Looking for names like Kristen?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Kristen to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Kristen against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).