Crystal
Meaning
from the word for clear quartz, ultimately Greek 'krystallos' (ice)
The story
Crystal is the transparent quartz worn as a name, ultimately Greek krystallos, ice, and its American story runs longer than its 1980s reputation suggests, with trace appearances all the way back to the 1890s, when gem names like Ruby and Opal were everywhere. The modern climb starts mid-century and lands on a 1980s peak, the years when Dynasty's Krystle Carrington, introduced in 1981, carried a glamorous spelling of the sound on network television. It has eased decade by decade since. Crystal belongs to the word-name family that America periodically rediscovers, and its arc is the clearest of its whole class: a natural object, polished into an ornament, worn hardest in the decade whose other favorites shared that shine. The mineral itself, meanwhile, has been catching light in exactly the same way the entire time.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Crystal peaked in the 1980s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
651 people · the #11,130 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 333,333 · median age 8
Among people named Crystal living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 162 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Crystal
Most people given the name Crystal in the United States were born between 1970 and 1999. The Crystal you meet today is most often in her 30s or 40s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Crystal deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Crystal truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Crystal fits with your family’s names and surname.
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