Tristan
Tristan was given to 1,103 boys in 2025, #309 among boys’ names; 130,794 Americans have been recorded with it since 1946 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 128,000 Americans named Tristan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 13 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tristan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tristan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tristan is “a male given name from the Celtic languages.” Its etymology gives the senses “riot” (meaning) and “tumult” (or).
Old French, the name of a knight, lover of Iseult in medieval romance Tristan and Iseult, from Celtic Drystan derived from drest meaning “riot” or “tumult”.
/ˈtɹɪstən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tristan?
#309 among boys’ names, 2025
Tristan fell from #101 in 2015 to #309 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 2.0 to 0.65 per 1,000.
5,844 babies in 1996, the peak
Tristan peaked in 1996, when 5,844 babies were given it (5,458 boys, #68 among boys’ names). The 1,125 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 19% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,103 | #309 | 0.65 |
| 2024 | 1,302 | #267 | 0.76 |
| 2023 | 1,382 | #253 | 0.81 |
| 2022 | 1,600 | #226 | 0.92 |
| 2021 | 1,825 | #208 | 1.0 |
| 2020 | 2,124 | #182 | 1.2 |
| 2019 | 2,573 | #151 | 1.4 |
| 2018 | 3,230 | #123 | 1.8 |
| 2017 | 3,309 | #121 | 1.8 |
| 2016 | 3,639 | #108 | 1.9 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,927 | #101 | 2.0 |
| 2014 | 3,927 | #98 | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 4,016 | #96 | 2.1 |
| 2012 | 4,441 | #88 | 2.3 |
| 2011 | 4,732 | #87 | 2.5 |
| 2010 | 4,899 | #84 | 2.6 |
| 2009 | 5,350 | #80 | 2.7 |
| 2008 | 5,659 | #81 | 2.8 |
| 2007 | 5,340 | #87 | 2.6 |
| 2006 | 5,414 | #86 | 2.6 |
| 2005 | 3,591 | #113 | 1.8 |
| 2004 | 3,481 | #115 | 1.8 |
| 2003 | 3,634 | #112 | 1.8 |
| 2002 | 3,725 | #103 | 1.9 |
| 2001 | 3,575 | #108 | 1.8 |
| 2000 | 3,531 | #105 | 1.8 |
| 1999 | 3,845 | #99 | 2.0 |
| 1998 | 4,169 | #92 | 2.2 |
| 1997 | 4,197 | #92 | 2.2 |
| 1996 | 5,458 | #68 | 2.9 |
| 1995 | 3,088 | #121 | 1.6 |
| 1994 | 492 | #452 | 0.25 |
| 1993 | 567 | #409 | 0.29 |
| 1992 | 622 | #372 | 0.31 |
| 1991 | 724 | #337 | 0.36 |
| 1990 | 753 | #330 | 0.37 |
| 1989 | 764 | #312 | 0.38 |
| 1988 | 803 | #289 | 0.42 |
| 1987 | 934 | #246 | 0.50 |
| 1986 | 923 | #244 | 0.50 |
| 1985 | 1,061 | #222 | 0.57 |
| 1984 | 873 | #251 | 0.48 |
| 1983 | 854 | #248 | 0.48 |
| 1982 | 762 | #275 | 0.42 |
| 1981 | 400 | #416 | 0.22 |
| 1980 | 208 | #604 | 0.12 |
| 1979 | 167 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1978 | 132 | #736 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 118 | #790 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 110 | #795 | 0.07 |
| 1975 | 113 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 95 | #831 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 72 | #956 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 77 | #916 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 90 | #863 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 63 | #1,030 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 50 | #1,108 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 49 | #1,066 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 29 | #1,444 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 34 | #1,325 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 22 | #1,718 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 17 | #2,031 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 26 | #1,581 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 22 | #1,752 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 13 | #2,402 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 10 | #2,857 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 12 | #2,521 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 6 | #3,910 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,532 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 15 | #2,162 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 9 | #2,953 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 5 | #4,325 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 9 | #2,888 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 12 | #2,368 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 7 | #3,338 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,302 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #4,167 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 9 | #2,771 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 5 | #3,980 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Tristan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 130,794 Americans recorded as Tristan, 5% are girls and 95% boys. In 2025 it went to 22 girls and 1,103 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Tristan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tristan, and how old are they?
128,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 130,794 Americans ever recorded as Tristan. The median Tristan alive today is 19 years old; half are between 13 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 109,402 people named Tristan (5,827 women and girls, 103,575 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 120,057 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 146 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,670 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 20,800 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 71,400 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 34,300 |
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 Tristan born?
The states with the most babies named Tristan are California, Texas and Florida, with 31% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 136 | #275 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 114 | #331 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 88 | #238 | 1.1× |
| New York | 64 | #296 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 51 | #247 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 46 | #269 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 46 | #259 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 35 | #250 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 30 | #361 | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 27 | #338 | 0.8× |
Where Tristan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Tristan is most over-represented in Alaska: since 1946 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Tristan 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 200,766 babies since 1880, Tristan is the most given (65% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,125 of their 1,509 babies (75%), again the most given.
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 Tristan
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 Tristan and names like it
- Compare Tristan and TristenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sTristan peaked in 1996.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tristan since 1910.
- The top names of 1996The year the most babies were named Tristan.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Tristan alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with TMost given first.