Meaning & Origin
A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Kristen is a girl's and boy's baby name of Greek origin, a Scandinavian form of Christine — from the Latin Christiana, meaning "follower of Christ" or "Christian woman." Kristen spread to the English-speaking world through Scandinavian immigration and the broader vogue for Scandi-inflected names in the 20th century.
Kristen peaked in the U.S. top 25 girls' names in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Kristen Stewart, Kristen Bell, and Kristen Wiig represent three remarkably different but equally compelling versions of the name's personality. It has a clean, northern European crispness that wears well across generations.