Kris
Feminine · “anointed”
Kris is given to both — 13,571 girls and 14,400 boys since 1880. See Kris as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Kris is the K-spelling of one of English's most thoroughly unisex names. Kristina, Kristin, Kristen and Christopher all reduce to it, and nothing on the page says which one is meant.
How old is the name Kris?
Kris first appears in US birth records in 1940 — 85 years ago. The typical Kris alive today was born around 1964, making them about 61 years old. About 12,000 people named Kris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kris most popular?
Kris peaked in 1965, reaching #277 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 10,640 places below that high. See the whole 1965 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From christos to Kris
The story of Kris
Christina spread through medieval Europe as a devotional name, and northern Europe kept the K spelling that Latin never used. American families borrowed the K forms heavily from the 1960s, and the shared clipping Kris went onto certificates for both sexes. Feminine Kris peaked in the mid-1970s, at the crest of the whole Krist- wave, with masculine use running alongside.
Meaning
anointed
All the parent names are built on the Greek christos, 'anointed', which entered Greek as the translation of the Hebrew title messiah. Kristina and Kristin mean 'a Christian'; Christopher means 'Christ-bearer'. The shared element is identical in every case.
How the name formed
- christos
- Kristina
- Kris
Related forms: Kristin · Kristina · Chris
Pronouncing Kris
KRIS
One syllable, hard k. Kris and Chris are homophones; only the spelling distinguishes them.
Nicknames for Kris
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
- 1940
- Most girls named
- 1964940 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #277reached in 1965
- Change vs 2023
- −11.1%8 in 2025, from 9
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.
Kris in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kristin in Norwegian — related form
- Kristina in Swedish — related form
- Chris in English — spelling variant
Kriss among us
people named Kris are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Kris
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Carmella test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kris's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carmella climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carmella's path sketches the road Kris is walking now.
Kris 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
Kris beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kris in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four large formal names can stand behind it, so the choice stays entirely open.
- One syllable, four letters, and never misheard in any accent.
- The K spelling is the northern European one rather than an American invention.
- Because it does not signal sex, it is often assumed to be masculine in writing.
- Chris is commoner and the two are indistinguishable in speech.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kris
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kriss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 12,000 people named Kris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kris in 2025?
- Kris ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kris?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Kris — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kris with classmates?
- Kris will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kris
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kris? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kris and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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