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Kristof

Boys' name

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Kristof has been given to 299 babies in the U.S. since 1972. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2001, with 17 recorded.

Babies named Kristof, 2024

1 in 557,000

Kristof over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kristof: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kristof means

Kristof is a given name.

The naming story behind Kristof

Charlotte M. Yonge’s 1884 History of Christian Names includes the exact spelling Kristof in its glossary. The entry labels it masculine and points to printed page(s) 106.

The glossary’s abbreviated description reads: “Ill. Slav. Gr. Christ bearer”. This is the historical author’s wording, including its language abbreviations and any proposed interpretation. It is presented as historical evidence, not as a verified modern translation. Victorian classifications and root explanations can differ from later linguistic research.

For Kristof, the current short meaning therefore remains unconfirmed. Establishing its modern etymology requires a current reference that documents the exact form and its relationship to the proposed earlier words.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 299 boys were recorded with the name Kristof between 1972 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 17 in 2001; its best national rank was #4,592 in 2001.

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.

How common is Kristof?

Kristof had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 557,000
6 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 287,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
386,177 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kristof sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2024 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 386,177 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kristof. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kristofs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kristof was born before 2003 — so the typical Kristof is around 22 today.

Median birth year
2003
About 22 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
35.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
67.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
299
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 35.5% of all recorded uses (106).

Is Kristof 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2001 (17)
Years since peak
24
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,592
2001

Spellings of Kristof

Kristof is not the most common spelling — Triston is, with 38.8% against Kristof's 1.00%.

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.

Kristof around the world

Where Kristof 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
    2009–2024
    #4,271
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    2006–2006
    #596
    in 2006
  • France
    1970–2008
    #3,162
    in 2008
  • Canada
    1996–2023
    #2,747
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1991–1991
    #481
    in 1991

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

Kristof by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,592
2001
Peak year
2001
17 that year
First recorded
1972
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
299
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kristof

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

KrishavKrithikKrishanKristonKrishayKristanKristoffKrishivKriyanshKristenKrithvikKrishnaKristinaKristjanKrithinKristineKristyKridayKristionKrishawnKrimsonKrishonKristaKristi

Sibling names for Kristof

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 Kristof

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