Christen
Feminine · “Greek christos”
Christen is given to both — 11,521 girls and 2,185 boys since 1880. See Christen as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Denmark has had ten kings named Christian, more than any other name in any European monarchy, and Christen is the Danish everyday form of it. In Denmark it is a man's name. In American records it is overwhelmingly a woman's.
How old is the name Christen?
Christen first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Christen alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 11,000 people named Christen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Christen most popular?
Christen peaked in 1982, reaching #405 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 9,052 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From christos to Christen
The story of Christen
The Danish royal house has alternated Frederik and Christian with near-mechanical regularity since 1513. Christian I took the throne in 1448, and the line has produced ten Christians and nine Frederiks, alternating so predictably that for centuries the name of the next king was known before his birth. The current king broke the pattern by reigning as Frederik X after Margrethe II, but his son and heir is Christian. No other European monarchy has kept a two-name alternation that long. The everyday Danish form of the name is Christen or Kristen, and Kristensen and Christensen are among the commonest Danish surnames as a result. Which is why the same six letters are a farmer's name in Jutland and a girl's name in Ohio.
Meaning
Greek christos, anointed
Christen is the Danish and Norwegian form of Christian, from Latin Christianus, a follower of Christ, from Greek christos, anointed. In Scandinavia it is a man's name. In American use the spelling functions as a variant of Kristen or Christine, which are female. The American female peak is 1982.
How the name formed
- christos
- Christianus
- Christian
- Christen
Related forms: Christen · Kristen · Christine
Pronouncing Christen
KRIS-tin
Two syllables, stress on the first. Danish says KRES-ten. Christen, Kristen and Kristin are homophones in American English.
Nicknames for Christen
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1910
- Most girls named
- 1982569 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #405reached in 1982
- Change vs 2023
- −9.1%10 in 2025, from 11
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Christen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Christen in Danish — same name
- Kristen in English — spelling variant
- Christine in English — related form
Christens among us
people named Christen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Christen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Christen
- #9457
- Christen on the 2025 chart
- #854
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Christen went to 10 girls in 2025, but Kristen is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 106, which makes it the 854th most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,603 places above the chart.
- Kristen96
- Christen10
About 1 girl in 15,163 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Christen itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Winona test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Christen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Winona climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Winona's path sketches the road Christen is walking now.
Christen sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Christen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Christen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Chris works as a short form for either sex.
- Christine and Christina are available as fuller forms.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- It is a man's name in Denmark and Norway.
- Kristen is the commoner American spelling.
- It is also an English verb meaning to baptize.
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Christen
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Christens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,000 people named Christen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Christen?
- Christen is one of 2 recorded spellings. Kristen is the more common one — 96 births in 2025 against 10 for Christen.
- How popular is the name Christen in 2025?
- Christen ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Christen?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Christen — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Christen with classmates?
- Christen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Christen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Christen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Christen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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