girl's name

Christy

KRIS-tee

  • Origin English
  • Gender Girl
  • Syllables 2
  • Letters 7
  • Popularity Uncommon
  • Births on record 102,622

Northern Ireland

#459

2023 births

Christy serves both Christine and Christopher, so it is used for both sexes — 98 percent of the births in our records are female, but the masculine use remains ordinary in Ireland. It peaked in 1975, and holds 102,071 lifetime births.

  • Christy is a name of English origin.
  • Peaked in 1975, when 5,192 babies were given the name.
  • It has been falling over the past decade.
  • Today about 1 in 97,513 babies in the United States is given this name.
  • First appears in US birth records in 1886.
  • 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.

Christy over time

Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.

44,840
'80 '90 '00 '10 '20 '30 '40 '50 '60 '70 '80 '90 '00 '10 '20
Show the numbers
Births named Christy by decade in the United States
Decade Births
1880s 10
1890s 17
1900s 23
1910s 200
1920s 392
1930s 327
1940s 1,770
1950s 8,161
1960s 14,951
1970s 44,840
1980s 20,350
1990s 6,044
2000s 2,281
2010s 904
2020s (to 2025) 266

What Christy means

Christy means a follower of Christ through Christine, or Christ-bearer through Christopher. Both trace to Christos, the anointed one, by different Greek compounds. The sense passes into the modern name unchanged.

Where Christy comes from

Christy shortens Christine, the Latin Christiana, a Christian, and Christopher, the Greek Christophoros — Christos joined to pherein, to carry, understood as bearing Christ in the heart before the giant-and-river legend was invented to explain it literally. Christos itself translates the Hebrew mashiach, the anointed one, referring to the oil poured at a coronation. In Ireland Christy is an ordinary man's name, which is where most of the masculine use in our records comes from.

Christy in use

Christy peaked in the United States in 1975, when 5,192 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It charts in four of the seven markets we track — 1013th in Ireland on 3 births, 4234th in the United States on 34, 6792nd in France and 7263rd in England and Wales — across 102,622 lifetime births. About 98 percent of recorded births are female.

How popular is Christy?

In 2025, Christy was given to 34 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.

Where Christy is used

Northern Ireland #459 3 in 2023
Scotland #635 5 in 2010
Ireland #1,013 3 in 2025
Canada #3,267 6 in 2023
United States #4,234 34 in 2025
France #6,792 5 in 2025
England & Wales #7,263 3 in 2025

The bar shows how near the top of each country's list the name sits, on a scale where #1 fills the row and #1,000 is a sliver. The figures beside it are the real rank and the babies recorded that year.

US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.

Names that peaked alongside Christy

These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.

Parents who like Christy also like

Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Christy over the last century — the same taste, a different name.

Christy in other languages

The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.

Other forms
Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
Kristy Christie

Sibling names for Christy

Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Christy — the two things that make a sibling set grate.

Common questions about Christy

What does the name Christy mean?

A follower of Christ through Christine, or Christ-bearer through Christopher.

Is Christy a boys' name?

In Ireland it is an ordinary man's name. About 98 percent of the births in our records are female.

Is it Christy or Christie?

Both are used, along with Kristy.

How popular is Christy?

4234th in the United States, down from a 1975 peak of 5,192 births.

How many syllables are in Christy?

Christy has 2 syllables.

Is Christy a good name?

That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Christy currently ranks #1,013 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.