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Kristel

#4,303 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Kristel has been given to 2,992 babies in the U.S. since 1952. In 2025 it ranked #4,303 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1982, with 145 recorded.

Babies named Kristel, 2025

1 in 100,000

Kristel over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kristel: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kristel means

Kristel has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Kristel

A separate documented entry treats Kristel as a diminutive of Kristiina. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

One of the source’s documented entries for Kristel records a meaning of crystal.

Origin, language, and formation

Kristel is used in Estonian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kristiina.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,992 girls were recorded with the name Kristel between 1952 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 145 in 1982; its best national rank was #1,016 in 1982.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,399 in 2020 to #4,303 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,110 in 2015 to #4,303 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kristel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 100,000
33 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 48,700
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#4,303
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
69,634 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kristel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 69,634 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kristel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kristels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kristel was born before 1984 — so the typical Kristel is around 41 today.

Median birth year
1984
About 41 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
29.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
28.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,992
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 29.9% of all recorded uses (896).

Is Kristel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−868
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+96
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−193
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.92×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
22.8%
Peak was 1982 (145)
Years since peak
43
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
44.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,016
1982

Spellings of Kristel

Kristel is not the most common spelling — Kristen is, with 26.9% against Kristel's 0.37%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kristel is used

Across 1910–2025, Kristel was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 50,000 girls, against 1 in 128,648 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 50,000
  2. 2Texas1 in 50,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 100,000
  4. 4Minnesota1 in 100,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 100,000
  6. 6New York1 in 100,000
  7. 7Arizona1 in —
  8. 8Colorado1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Kristel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kristel around the world

Where Kristel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2004–2024
    #5,892
    in 2024
  • France
    1963–2010
    #6,927
    in 2010
  • Norway
    1880–2006
    #584
    in 2006
  • Canada
    1991–2013
    #3,199
    in 2013
  • South Australia
    1960–2000
    #727
    in 2000

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Kristel

People whose public names include Kristel, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Kristel in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Kristel. Linked forms have their own page here.

CristelKristalKrystalChristelle

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Kristel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#4,303
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 96
Best rank ever
#1,016
1982
Peak year
1982
145 that year
First recorded
1952
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,992
Count in 2025
33

Names similar to Kristel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KrishnaKrislynKrishaKrissyKristynKristalKristianaKristianKristanKrislynnGrettelCristelKristleShantelKristieKritikaKristonGretelGittelKrimsonKristeenChantelKrithiKristell

Names with a curve like Kristel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Kristel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AprylJacintaBenjaminContessaReenaShaunnaTalithaCorieMarlanaKrissyAaronJenni

Sibling names for Kristel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Kristel

Top names of 1982, Kristel's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1982Girls' names starting with KEstonian Girl NamesEstonian Names