How rare is the name Kirsten?

50,529 people in the United States have the first name Kirsten, about 1 in 5,977. It ranks #895 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

KIRSTEN

#895

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
50,529
About
1 in 5,977
This common or more
68.4%
Who bears it

Of the 50,529 people named Kirsten, 83.3% reported their origin as White, 5.8% as Black and 4.3% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Kirsten peaked in 1991, when 1,938 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19372025
Peak year
1991
Births that year
1,938
In 2025*
60 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 53,393 babies have been given the name since 1937. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Kirsten by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1990s, when it ranked #369. The largest share of babies named Kirsten, 38%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1930s#7,12540
1940s#2,727297
1950s#1,873813
1960s#6556,686
1970s#5508,336
1980s#5438,807
1990s#36916,919
2000s#6659,349
2010s#2,3601,809
2020s#5,178337
Silent Generation 1928–450.4%
Baby boom 1946–645.7%
Generation X 1965–8025.5%
Millennials 1981–9638%
Generation Z 1997–1228%
2013 and later2.4%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Kirsten is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Kirsten has been most common in Washington (2×), Minnesota (1.9×), and Oregon (1.9×), and least common in Arkansas (0.49×).

50,201 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Kirsten

#893 Wade · 50,704#894 Tyrone · 50,642#896 Doug · 50,315#897 Tabitha · 50,189

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Kirsten, most common first.

#2,030 Kiersten · 13,430#2,809 Kirstin · 8,232#4,896 Kirstie · 3,655#5,860 Kierstin · 2,831#7,428 Kierstyn · 2,058#7,447 Kirstyn · 2,051#9,663 Kirsty · 1,425#11,586 Kirsti · 1,101

Also a last name

As a last name, Kirsten ranks #37,403 of 156,621, with 640 people. See Kirsten as a last name

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