girl's name
Cristina
kris-TEE-nuh
- Origin Italian
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 8
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 57,515
Northern Ireland
#472
2017 births
Cristina shares its root with Kirsten in this same group, but arrived by a southern route — Italian and Spanish rather than Scandinavian, from the Greek word for a follower of the anointed one.
- Cristina is a name of Italian origin.
- Peaked in 1990, when 1,781 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 25,901 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1906.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Cristina over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 28 |
| 1910s | 140 |
| 1920s | 292 |
| 1930s | 247 |
| 1940s | 470 |
| 1950s | 999 |
| 1960s | 3,229 |
| 1970s | 8,492 |
| 1980s | 15,174 |
| 1990s | 13,214 |
| 2000s | 6,964 |
| 2010s | 2,521 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 928 |
What Cristina means
Cristina means a Christian, or follower of Christ. The Greek root concerns anointing with oil, so the title behind the name describes a rite before it describes a belief.
Where Cristina comes from
Cristina is the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Christina, from the Greek christianos — built on christos, anointed, which rendered the Hebrew mashiach. Saint Christina of Bolsena is a fourth-century martyr whose legend accumulated so many escapes from execution that it is generally treated as devotional rather than historical. Dropping the h is a southern European spelling habit, not a modern respelling.
Cristina in use
Cristina peaked in the United States in 1990, when 1,781 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 1624th in the United States on 128 births, 2848th in England and Wales on 9 and 5817th in France on 5, across 57,515 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. France ran its own peak of 230 births in 1974.
How popular is Cristina?
In 2025, Cristina was given to 128 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Cristina is used
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 Cristina
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Cristina also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Cristina over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Cristina
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Cristina 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.
- Czech
- Kristina
- Dutch
- Christina Christiane Kirsten Christiana
- Estonian
- Kristina
- French
- Christiane
- German
- Christiane Kristina Christin
- Greek
- Christina Christiana
- Italian
- Cristiana
- Norwegian
- Kristin
- Portuguese
- Cristiana
- Russian
- Kristina
- Slovene
- Kristina
Sibling names for Cristina
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Cristina — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Cristina
What does the name Cristina mean?
A follower of Christ — the Greek christianos, from christos, anointed.
Why is there no h?
A southern European spelling habit in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, not a modern respelling.
Is Kirsten the same name?
Same root, different route — Scandinavian rather than Italian.
How popular is Cristina?
1624th in the United States, down from a 1990 peak of 1,781 births.
Is Cristina a girl's or a boy's name?
Cristina is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Cristina?
Cristina has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Cristina?
Cristina is usually shortened to Cris and Tina.
Is Cristina a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Cristina currently ranks #1,624 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.