Humanverse

Christena vs Christine

American parents have registered 588,495 Christines since 1880, against 2,844 Christenas. Christine is still ahead, with 176 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Christena against Christine, 1880 to 2025 0 5k 10k 15k 20k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Christena Christine

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Christine has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1882, when Christena had 14 and Christine had 75.

Side by side

  Christena Christine
Total US births 2,844588,495
Most in one year 5017,577
Babies in 2025 under 5176
Estimated living today 1,500461,000
Median age today 4957
Peak year 19751952
Best rank 1,838th girls20th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,272nd
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 2,844 / 0586,465 / 2,030

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Christines alive today are over 57; half the Christenas are over 49. That is 8 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Christena and Christine.