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Christene vs Kristen

American parents have registered 220,952 Kristens since 1880, against 4,916 Christenes. Kristen is still ahead, with 106 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Christene against Kristen, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Christene Kristen

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

Of the 129 years in which either name was published, Kristen for 81 years and Christene for 48 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Christene Kristen
Total US births 4,916220,952
Most in one year 1189,596
Babies in 2025 under 5106
Estimated living today 2,400212,000
Median age today 6340
Peak year 19251982
Best rank 681st girls33rd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,990th
First recorded 18881938
Girls / boys 4,916 / 0218,767 / 2,185

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 Christenes alive today are over 63; half the Kristens are over 40. That is 23 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: Christene and Kristen.