Humanverse

Krislynn vs Kristen

American parents have registered 220,952 Kristens since 1880, against 691 Krislynns. Kristen is still ahead, with 106 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Krislynn 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

Kristen has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1938 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2020, when Krislynn had 30 and Kristen had 147.

Side by side

  Krislynn Kristen
Total US births 691220,952
Most in one year 389,596
Babies in 2025 6106
Estimated living today 690212,000
Median age today 1340
Peak year 20151982
Best rank 3,915th girls33rd girls
Rank in 2025 13,208th1,990th
First recorded 19871938
Girls / boys 691 / 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 Kristens alive today are over 40; half the Krislynns are over 13. That is 27 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: Krislynn and Kristen.