The name Tristan is believed to come from the Celtic names Drustan and Drust, which are derived from the Celtic root trusto, meaning "noise" or "tumult." Other theories suggest that it comes from the Old French word triste, meaning "sad." Tristan first appeared in the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 for boy names in 1971 and cracked the top-100 for the first time in 1996. It remained in the top-100 until 1999, and again from 2006 to 2014, but has lost popularity ever since and fell out of the top-250 in 2023. HGTV stars Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae El Moussa named their first child together Tristan Jay, born in 2023.
