Given name & surname
Tristram
“a sorrowful man”
Tristram has a related form in Drystan. In Welsh use, Drystan carries the interpretation “a sorrowful man.” In English use, Tristram has a related form in Tristan. One Celtic interpretation is “a sorrowful man; in Arthurian legend, a knight of the Round Table.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Tristram has a related form in Drystan. In Welsh use, Drystan carries the interpretation “a sorrowful man.” In English use, Tristram has a related form in Tristan. One Celtic interpretation is “a sorrowful man; in Arthurian legend, a knight of the Round Table.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
A possible origin is Celtic, although the derivation remains uncertain.
The story
Its literary history includes the stories of King Arthur and his knights.
Tristram through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 114
- 114 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1987
- 10 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 2009. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 10 in 1987. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 269 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Tristram’s family of names
In English usage, Tristram has a diminutive in Tris. In English usage, Tristram has a related form in Tristan. Tristram has a related form in Tristan.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 5
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Tristram
- Tristram DaltonAmerican politician (1738-1817)
- Tristram StuartBritish author and activistborn 1977
- Tristram HuntBritish historian, museum director and ex-politician (born 1974)
- Tris CoffinAmerican actor (1909-1990)
- Tristram CaryEnglish composer (1925–2008)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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