as a First Name
From Celtic legend, the name borne by a hero of medieval romance. There are many different versions of the immensely popular tragic story of Tristan and his love for Isolde. Generally, they agree that Tristan was an envoy sent by King Mark of Cornwall to bring back his bride, the Irish princess Isolde. Unfortunately, Tristan and Isolde fall in love with each other, having accidentally drunk the love potion intended for King Mark's wedding night. Tristan eventually leaves Cornwall to fight for King Howel of Brittany. Wounded in battle, he sends for Isolde. She arrives too late, and dies of grief beside his bier. The name Tristan is of unknown derivation, though it may be connected with Pictish Drostan; it has been altered from an irrecoverable original as a result of transmission through Old French sources that insisted on associating it with Latin tristis ‘sad’, a reference to the young knight's tragic fate.
| 1,725th in the U.S. for 2011 |
Nicknames & variations
Quick facts
- Thousands
- of people in the U.S have this name
- 11,297
- to be exact (as of February 2011)
- 83,099
- if you include dead people (since the government started keeping track)
- Alaska
- has the most people named Tristan per capita
- 1996
- marked the height of its popularity
4%
96%
0%
55+
55+
2%
30-54
30-54
11%
13-29
13-29
86%
0-12
0-12
Top state populations
U.S. Distribution Map
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