Christel
Christel was last recorded in 2024, when 12 babies were given it; 3,712 Americans have been recorded with it between 1912 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,310 Americans named Christel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 50 years old and half are between 43 and 56.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Christel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Christel mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Christel is “a diminutive of the female given names Christine and Christiane”
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Christian”
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Christel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,559, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
202 babies in 1978, the peak
Christel peaked in 1978, when 202 girls were given it, #763 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 12 | #8,559 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 11 | #9,106 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 9 | #10,566 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 7 | #12,480 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 5 | #15,624 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 12 | #8,718 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 9 | #10,880 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 12 | #9,008 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 9 | #11,089 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 9 | #11,177 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (103)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 10 | #10,426 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 9 | #11,470 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 17 | #7,185 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 14 | #8,355 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,006 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,231 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 19 | #6,881 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 19 | #6,640 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 21 | #5,849 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 24 | #5,244 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 13 | #8,085 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,767 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 18 | #6,118 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 14 | #7,244 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 21 | #5,065 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 13 | #7,186 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 25 | #4,247 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 16 | #5,830 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 26 | #3,995 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 20 | #4,876 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 21 | #4,691 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 27 | #3,881 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 23 | #4,361 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 35 | #3,165 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 43 | #2,618 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 32 | #3,096 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 35 | #2,790 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 43 | #2,346 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 48 | #2,179 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 68 | #1,617 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 77 | #1,488 | 0.05 |
| 1982 | 69 | #1,655 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 77 | #1,551 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 93 | #1,352 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 115 | #1,155 | 0.07 |
| 1978 | 202 | #763 | 0.13 |
| 1977 | 184 | #814 | 0.12 |
| 1976 | 164 | #839 | 0.11 |
| 1975 | 158 | #845 | 0.11 |
| 1974 | 156 | #844 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 155 | #839 | 0.11 |
| 1972 | 132 | #928 | 0.09 |
| 1971 | 147 | #902 | 0.09 |
| 1970 | 129 | #974 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 76 | #1,291 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 44 | #1,781 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 44 | #1,737 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 60 | #1,417 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 45 | #1,674 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 63 | #1,422 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 58 | #1,467 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 65 | #1,376 | 0.03 |
| 1961 | 36 | #1,926 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 48 | #1,617 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 38 | #1,799 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 43 | #1,632 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 38 | #1,754 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 23 | #2,328 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 34 | #1,812 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 33 | #1,801 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 32 | #1,759 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 20 | #2,337 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,712 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 9 | #3,711 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,749 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 16 | #2,505 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 14 | #2,784 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 9 | #3,454 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 7 | #3,719 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,866 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,053 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,447 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,829 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,762 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 8 | #3,191 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 10 | #2,717 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,764 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,955 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,912 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,627 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 6 | #4,118 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,680 | under 0.01 |
| 1928 | 6 | #4,274 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,395 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,470 | under 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #5,141 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 5 | #5,245 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,106 | under 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,705 | under 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,530 | under 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,857 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,268 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,043 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Christel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Christel has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 103 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Christel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Christel, and how old are they?
3,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 3,712 Americans ever recorded as Christel. The median Christel alive today is 50 years old; half are between 43 and 56.
The 2020 Census counted 4,840 people named Christel (4,803 women and girls, 37 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,368 born in the U.S. The Census count is 44% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 35 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 493 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,780 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 639 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 258 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 104 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Christel born?
The states with the most babies named Christel are California, Texas and Illinois, with 38% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 255 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 156 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 143 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New York | 136 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 100 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| North Carolina | 90 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 79 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 69 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Missouri | 59 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Florida | 47 | not ranked | 0.4× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Christel with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 30,180 babies since 1880, Christel is the third most given (12% of them). In 2025 none of their 21 babies recorded by SSA was a Christel (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Christel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Christel and names like it
- Compare Christel and ChrystalBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sChristel peaked in 1978.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Christel since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Christel: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named Christel.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Christel alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with CMost given first.