You probably know several people with Chris- names (Christina, Christine, Kristin, Kristy etc.), but which is the most common? This post concerns itself with just women's names-- we'll leave men's names to another time.
The original Chris- name was Christiana, the feminine form of Christianus, which meant "a Christian" in Latin. It gave way to Christina, and Christine, the French form. Both were common in the USA in the 20th century, as were a number of offshoots, like:
Christy/Kristy/Christie - Christy and Christie can be surnames deriving from Christopher, but these are often used as pet forms of Christina, Christine etc. Christy was used for boys as well in Ireland in the early 20th century. From the 1940s on in the USA, it was primarily a girls' name, and often used on its own.
Kristin is a form of Christina used in Scandinavian countries. It became popular in the USA in the mid 20th century. It is also found in the USA as Kristen and Kristyn.
Kirsten is a Danish and Norwegian form of Christina. This became popular in the USA in the 1960s. Because some people pronounce it /KEER sten/ and some pronounce it /CUR sten/, there are a variety of different spellings. In 2023, the most common spelling was Kiersten.
Christa/Krista is a short form of Christina, originally used in German and several other European languages. It found popularity in the USA in the latter half of the 20th century.
Crystal is not etymologically connected to the name Christina, but we are including it here anyway because its popularity can be, in part, to the fact that it starts with Crys.
Chris - Plain old Chris was a choice for parents who couldn't decide on which Chris- name to use. Lots of little girls got named just Chris or Kris in the 20th century. It was a solid gender neutral choice, as many boys named Christopher were also called Chris. However, the SSA database data may be skewed, as there are a certain number of names that get misgendered every year (i.e., it may account for the large number of boys named Jennifer and girls named Richard every year). Because of this, the data may be inaccurate.
There are other forms of Christina which have shown up in the Social Security Database, like Chrissy/Krissy, Christabel, Christiana, Chrislynn, Chrisanne, Kristalyn, Cristela, Kirsty, etc., but these have never achieved the popularity of Christine, Christina, Kristin, Krista, Kirsten and Crystal. In 2023, the most common Chris name was Christina.
Here's a chart of Chris- names over time. Christine starts out being the most popular, peaking in the late 1940s, and then again in the late 1960s. As Christine's star fades, Christina and Christy take over. Crystal rockets to the top in the early-mid 1980s, only to fall just as rapidly. The main flaw in this data is that the birth rate has not remained stable over time, so raw numbers of namesakes may not reflect overall popularity, but it does give a good snapshot of the names within this set.
Let's start with Christine, the most popular of all the Chris- names. Between 1880 (when we first have name data from the Social Security Administration) and 2023, there were 686,931 baby girls named Christine. The most popular spelling by far is Christine, with 585,835 namesakes, or 85% of the total Christines. Christine was quietly popular in the 1880s until the mid 1910s, when it shot up in popularity. It may have been influenced by the character of the same name in Gaston Leroux's novel Phantom of the Opera, which was published in 1910. It also followed the trend of names ending in -een/-ine being popular in the 1920s-1950s (e.g., Doreen, Kathleen, Colleen, Ernestine etc.)
All spellings, in order of popularity are:
Spelling # total % of total Year first appeared
Christine 585,835 85% 1880
Kristine 84,199 12.3% 1916
Christene 4,916 0.72% 1888
Cristine 4,081 0.6 % 1916
Christeen 2,667 0.4% 1900
Kristene 1,176 0.2% 1946
Kristeen 1,174 0.2% 1944
Christyne 928 0.14% 1934
Krystine 568 0.08% 1949
Kristyne 396 0.06% 1947
Chrystine 351 0.05% 1912
Christean 167 0.02% 1919
Khristine 163 0.02% 1949
Khrystyne 97 0.01% 1988
Krystyne 96 0.01% 1987
Cristene 33 0.005% 1953
Crystine 28 0.004% 1979
I only put spellings that showed up in 5 different years or more into the above chart. There were a few outlier spellings:
Chrysteen (5), Chrystene (12), Cristeen (5), Khrystine (23), Christiene (6), and Krysteen (5) for a total of 56, or 0.008%. There have also been 16 girls named Christne, which I'm pretty sure is a typo for Christine.
In addition, it has appeared in the following compound names:
Christinejoy (26), Christinemarie (26) and Christineanne (5).
Christina gathered popularity as Christine's popularity started to decline in the late 1960s. Christina hit its peak in 1985, though in 2023, Christina was the most popular Chris name. Latin/Spanish/Italian forms of names (names ending in -a) are more popular sounding than French versions now, and have been for several decades. The Christine/Christina example follows that (e.g., Daniela, Mikayla, Maria, and Eva are more popular than their French counterparts, Danielle, Michelle, Marie, and Eve, whose popularity peaked in the middle part of the 20th century.) Since 1880, there have been 680,999 girls named some spelling of Christina in the USA.
The most common spellings of Christina are:
Spelling # total % of total Year Spelling First Appeared
Christina 478,523 70% 1880
Kristina 136,412 20% 1915
Cristina 52,043 7.7% 1906
Krystina 4,803 0.7% 1949
Christena 2,835 0.4% 1880
Krystyna 1,651 0.24% 1952
Khristina 1,256 0.18% 1962
Kristyna 722 0.11% 1969
Crystina 619 0.09% 1967
Chrystina 589 0.09% 1963
Kristeena 377 0.06% 1968
Christeena 274 0.04% 1927
Khrystina 94 0.01% 1985
Krystena 92 0.01% 1986
Krysteena 79 0.01% 1985
Christinna 75 0.01% 1969
Khrystyna 65 0.01% 1987
Other spellings found are: Krisztina (27), Chrystyna (25), Cristena (18), Kristinna (17), Krisstina (11) Kristiina (10), and Kristiena (5) for a total of 113 (0.02%). In addition, there have been 48 girls named Chritina, 25 named Chrsitina, and 38 Chrstina, probably all typos for Christina.
The only compound name containing Christina is Christinamarie (163) and Kristinamarie (39).
Christy is the overall most common spelling of this name, which started getting popular in the 1960s, when names ending in -y became more common. Parents began liking less formal and more nicknamey-sounding names for girls, like Jodi, Kelly, Carrie, Amy etc. and Christy follows this trend. Christy hit its peak in 1978, and that year the most popular spelling was Kristy. Overall, the first spelling recorded was Christie in 1881, and continued to be pretty much the only spelling of the name until the 1910s, when Christy started being regularly used. 1940 was the turning point when Christie and Christy gained 3 more spellings and doubled in popularity. It may have been influenced by Agatha Christie, whose popular novel And Then There Were None was published in 1939. From 1881-2023, there have been 368,313 girls named some variant of Christy. The most popular spellings are:
Spelling # total % of total Year first appeared
Christy 98,470 27% 1887
Kristi 76,449 21% 1940
Kristy 70,450 19% 1941
Christie 45,958 12% 1881
Kristie 38,341 10% 1940
Cristy 8,158 2.2% 1944
Cristi 3,197 1% 1948
Cristie 2,096 0.6% 1945
Krysti 793 0.2% 1958
Kriste 621 0.2% 1950
Krystie 521 0.14% 1963
Kristee 500 0.14% 1953
Chrystie 346 0.09% 1948
Christe 331 0.09% 1951
Khristi 146 0.04% 1963
Khristie 144 0.04% 1965
Crystie 90 0.02% 1959
Crysti 51 0.01% 1968
Chrysti 50 0.01% 1963
Kristye 43 0.01% 1961
Christey 40 0.01% 1971
Krysty 33 0.01% 1974
Other recorded spellings are: Kristey (22), Cristee (11), and Kryste (10) for a total of 43, or 0.01% of the total.
In Scandinavian countries, Kristen is a man's name, the form of Christian. Kristin is a woman's name, pronounced more like /kris teen/. In the USA, Kristin started out being the more popular spelling, but Kristen eventually took over as the favorite. In the USA, all spellings are used almost exclusively for girls. In the USA, the first recorded spelling of the name in the SSA database was Christen in 1910, which may possibly have been a typo for Christine. Christin followed in 1931, but disappeared from the record until after Kristin became established-- it appeared for the first time in 1932, and gained popularity, swapping places in popularity with Kristen until it reached its peak in the early 1980s. The peak year for all spellings of Kristin was 1982, with Kristen being the most popular spelling. The popularity of the name Kristin/Kristen peaks with the character arc of Kristin Shepard on the popular tv series "Dallas," who dies dramatically in 1981. Kristen had another spike in popularity in 1989, perhaps influenced by Kristin Otto, a German swimmer who was the first woman to win 6 gold medals in a single Olympic games. Altogether, there have been 458,785 girls named some form of Kristin since 1910.
Spelling # total % of total Year first appeared
Kristen 218,433 48% 1932
Kristin 179,204 40% 1938
Christen 11,503 3% 1910
Christin 11,187 2% 1931
Kristyn 8,797 2% 1949
Kristan 5,541 1.2% 1945
Cristin 4,266 1% 1948
Krysten 4,028 0.9% 1960
Krystin 3,129 0.7% 1965
Cristen 2,649 0.6% 1958
Christan 1,366 0.3% 1952
Christyn 1,097 0.2% 1969
Kriston 719 0.2% 1965
Krystyn 711 0.2% 1967
Krystan 397 0.09% 1981
Cristyn 286 0.06% 1970
Christon 231 0.05% 1974
Crystin 225 0.05% 1980
Cristan 203 0.04% 1970
Crysten 154 0.03% 1981
Khristen 153 0.03% 1978
Krystn 110 0.02% 1960
Khristin 103 0.02% 1971
Chrysten 62 0.01% 1981
Chrystin 45 0.01% 1980
Khrysten 29 0.01% 1989
Khrysten 29 0.01% 1989
Crystan 28 0.01% 1984
Other spellings include:
Khrystyn (26), Kristn (22), Criston (19), Kryston (18), Khrystin (12), Chrystan (11), Kristynn (6), Christann (5), and Kristinn (5) for a total of 154, or 0.03% of the total.
Kirsten is a Danish and Norwegian form of Christina. It was adopted in Scotland in the 18th century where it was spelled Kirstin, and translated into Scottish Gaelic as Ciorstan. Outside of Scotland, it was probably introduced to the English speaking world through Norwegian legendary opera singer Kirsten Flagstad (1895-1962), who was a popular figure on the radio in the 1930s in the USA, being considered the "world's greatest soprano." In the SSA database, Kirsten first appears in 1937, coinciding with Flagstad's first appearance at the Chicago City Opera Company. There have been 99,001 Girls named some form of Kirsten from 1937-2023, with the peak year of popularity being 1996.
Kirsten has many spellings, reflecting that fact that in the USA, it is pronounced /KUR sten/ by some, and /KEER sten/ by others.
Spelling # total % of total Year first appeared
Kirsten 53,022 54% 1937
Kiersten 14,721 15% 1963
Kirstin 8,772 9% 1942
Kierstin 3,268 3% 1966
Kerstin 2,528 3% 1963
Kierstyn 2,392 2.4% 1976
Kirstyn 2,308 2.3% 1975
Kyrsten 1,990 2% 1965
Keirsten 1,365 1.4% 1968
Kyrstin 1,271 1.3% 1965
Kersten 918 1% 1963
Kierston 848 1% 1971
Kearstin 726 1% 1979
Keirstin 547 0.6% 1968
Kearsten 529 0.5% 1978
Kirstan 473 0.5% 1968
Kurstin 466 0.5% 1967
Kerstyn 426 0.4% 1981
Kearston 423 0.4% 1978
Keirstyn 369 0.4% 1990
Kursten 281 0.3% 1973
Kearstyn 253 0.3% 1989
Kirston 228 0.2% 1972
Kyrstyn 192 0.2% 1989
Keirston 156 0.2% 1978
Keirstan 118 0.1% 1992
Kierstynn 107 0.1% 1995
Kurstyn 100 0.1% 1988
Curstin 77 0.1% 1991
Kerston 68 0.1% 1978
Kyrstan 62 0.1% 1988
Kerstan 33 0.003% 1991
Other spellings found are: Kurston (23), Kyrston (20), Kirstynn (11), Kearstan (5), and Curstyn (5), for a total of 64, or 0.01%
Krista has never been as popular as other Chris- names, but it still made an impact as part of the bundle of Chris names for girls. The first spelling recorded in the SSA database was Christa, which debuted in 1912. Krista came along in 1938 and eventually eclipsed Christa as the favored spelling. Originally, Christa was a short form of Christina that was used in some European languages, but it rode the wave of Chris- names to the USA where it was popular in the middle-late 20th century. There have been a total of 119,813 girls named some form of Krista in the USA, with the peak year being 1986.
Spelling # total % of total Year first appeared
Krista 73,610 61% 1938
Christa 32,773 27% 1912
Krysta 6,562 5.5% 1961
Crista 4,239 4% 1947
Crysta 1,775 1.5% 1960
Chrysta 572 0.5% 1946
Khrista 228 0.2% 1970
Khrysta 28 0.02% 1989
Being shorter than other Chris- names, Krista doesn't have a lot of variant spellings. The other recorded spellings include: Kristah (16) and Krystah (10), a total of 26, or 0.02% of the total.
In the Victorian era, names of flowers and gemstones started being used regularly for girls. The mid-late 1800s saw the rise of names like Violet, Ruby, Myrtle, Coral etc. Crystal was among these names. Coming from the Greek krustallos meaning "ice; rock crystal," in English Crystal has come to mean any mineral with a crystalline structure. However, compared to other contemporary gemstone and flower names, like Myrtle, Pearl, Beryl, and Opal, which had all but died out by the 1960s, Crystal has had much more staying power. Was it because of the Crys- beginning? Possibly-- the form Christel was originally a German pet form of Christina, which may have served to cement the association with Christina in the USA, though that spelling was never that common. Other spellings of the name, like Christle, Chrystal etc. have been used which were influenced by Chris- names, showing that Crystal was not seen as just another gemstone name, but also part of the Chris- canon.
Altogether there have been 489,070 baby girls named some form of Crystal since 1884 (the first recorded usage in the SSA database), with the peak year being 1982 , probably owing a lot to the fact that there was a character named Krystle Carrington on the popular tv series "Dynasty" (played by Linda Evans), which debuted in 1981.
Recently the name has become most popular with Spanish speakers, who may use it in honor of La Virgen del Cristal, who has been venerated in Spain and Latin America since the 17th century. The Spanish form is Cristal, but other Spanish spellings have been found in the 21st century, like Cristhel and
Spelling # total % of total Year first appeared
Crystal 331,543 68% 1884
Krystal 74,945 15% 1941
Cristal 15,763 3% 1947
Chrystal 15,736 3% 1894
Krystle 12,935 2.6% 1969
Kristal 12,051 2% 1951
Christal 9,682 2% 1913
Christel 3,696 0.8% 1912
Kristel 2,906 0.6% 1952
Crystle 1,186 0.2% 1952
Krystel 1,112 0.2% 1971
Kristle 892 0.2% 1964
Crystel 743 0.2% 1958
Christle 526 0.1% 1958
Christell 465 0.1% 1911
Crystall 408 0.08% 1960
Khrystal 351 0.07% 1976
Kristol 255 0.05% 1968
Kristell 276 0.06% 1978
Chrystle 249 0.05% 1952
Christol 243 0.05% 1958
Kristyl 211 0.04% 1970
Crystol 208 0.04% 1957
Crystale 203 0.04% 1961
Krystall 170 0.03% 1977
Krystale 170 0.03% 1981
Christyl 142 0.03% 1969
Krystl 150 0.03% 1972
Krystol 117 0.02% 1972
Kristl 95 0.02% 1964
Krystyl 88 0.02% 1982
Chrystel 77 0.02% 1968
Cristol 62 0.01% 1973
Christl 61 0.01% 1957
Cristle 59 0.01% 1962
Crystalle 56 0.01% 1977
Krystell 46 0.01% 1991
Khristal 45 0.01% 1974
Krystil 41 0.01% 1982
Crystl 27 0.01% 1972
Other recorded spellings are: Cristell (25), Kristyle (15), Cristhel (12), Crystil (11), Kristil (10), Crystyl (10), Christyle (8), Chrystell (7), Kristhel (6), Cristyl (6),Crystell (5), Cristyle (5), and Kryztal (5) for a total of 130, or 0.03%.
Crystal has also showed up in a number of compound names: Crystallann (150), Crystalmarie (62), Crystalrose (32) and Crystalgayle (5)-- all 5 in 1981, not surprisingly at the height of the singer Crystal Gayle's career. We also find Crystallee and Crystalee, but it also is found Kristalee and Cristaly, so I'm not sure whether to put this under Crystal or Krista. Also appearing in the SSA Database are Crystral (22) and Crysal (38) which I think we can chalk up to misspellings of Crystal.
There have also been 542 girls named Christelle/Chrystelle/Cristelle, but I wasn't sure if this was a fancy way of spelling Crystal (e.g., I have met a couple of Rachelles who pronounced it Rachel, and Cherelle who was Cheryl), or if the accent is on the second syllable (like Michelle and Danielle).
In addition to the main names (the ones above), there have been a number of other Chris- names that have showed up in the SSA Database. Some of these may represent typos (e.g., some Christias may have supposed to have been Christinas? Likewise for Christna, although Krisna also exists). Is Kristain another spelling of Kristin? Is it a typo for Kristina? We'll never know, unless we track down the parents of all 542 Kristains and ask them!
Krisha is a Sanskrit name, but it also appears as Chrisha, Krysha, Kricia, and Crisha in the SSA database. Sanskrit names don't generally have alternate spellings, unless they reflect regional pronunciation differences. Is this also a Chris- name?
Christian is another name that presents problems. While in the middle ages it was used as a woman's name, in the 20th century it was largely seen as a man's name. Many of the female Christians listed may have been gender typos (there are a number of these, as names like John and Roberts always show probably more female namesakes than were intended; likewise for male Elizabeths and Margarets)
Name # Spellings First Recorded Peak Year(s) # Babies total
Chris 10 1914 1964 38,507
Christian 11 1886 1991 29,240
Christiana 22 1882 1995 20,140
Christiane 9 1946 1970 4661
Krissa 9 1956 1990 2513
Krisha 6 1964 2017 2500
Krislyn 13 1961 2005 2460
Crystalyn 11 1967 1986 2132
Christinia 5 1912 1978 1640
Chrisann 8 1946 1967 1547
Christella 5 1917 1963, 1973, 1984 1466
Christabel 8 1901 2014 1401
Christelle 4 1913 2011-2012 1223
Christia 3 1958 1987 1159
Criselda 3 1958 1982 1068
Krishana 12 1975 1993 670
Chrisandra 4 1947 1983, 1989 624
Chrisette 3 2008 2011 560
Kristain 2 1973 1992 542
Christana 4 1900 1995 348
Christabella 4 1997 2012 309
Chrishelle 5 1970 2010 270
Krisalyn 4 2002 2006 218
Christna 4 1969 1982 218
Chrishonda 5 1974 1991 198
Crystallee 4 1977 1986 177
Christasia 3 1995 2005 170
Christmas 1 1964 1984 160
Chrisley 4 2014 2017 159
Krissia 3 1988 2006 132
Chrisma 2 1978 1992 129
Chrisanna 4 1952 1991 123
Krisinda 4 1972 1973 114
Chrisoula 2 1966 1981 102
Chriselle 4 1998 2015 80
Chrysanthemum 1 1958 2016 79
Chrishawn 5 1973 1980 79
Crystalina 2 1979 1986 71
Crisbel 2 2004 2019-2020 64
Crisol 1 1990 1996 64
Crisanta 1 1922 1974, 1996 49
Christany 1 2004 2005-2006 22
There have also been a number of Chris- names that have only shown up in one year:
Chrishae - 1999 (12)
Krisily - 2005 (11)
Crysania - 1993 (7)
Crysany - 1998 (7)
Chrysanthia - 1961 (6)
Krisheena - 1985 (6)
Krisina - 1990 (6)
Chrissiana - 2015 (6)
Christylee - 1979 (5)
Christielee - 1986 (5) - probably inspired by the Billy Joel song of the same name
Krishani - 2001 (5)
Krishara - 2003 (5)
Chrishya -2004 (5)
Chrishiya - 2008 (5)
So there you have it-- all the Chris-adjacent names out there. I didn't count Crispin (5 girls in 1967) and Crispina (23 from 1919-1930), because they are not technically Christina names, and don't really follow the trends. There have also been 52 girls named Christ and 32 named Krist, but my guess is those are typos for Christa or Kristi.
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