Tristan (name)

Gender	Male (occasionally female)
Word/name	Latin/Italian
Meaning	Welsh origin: "noise of arms", "resonance of iron" or "clanking sword" French origin: "sad" or "sorrowful"
Related names	Tristam, Tristão, etc.

Tristan or Tristram is a given name of Welsh origin. It originates from the Brythonic name Drust or Drustanus. It derives from a stem meaning "noise", seen in the modern Welsh noun trwst (plural trystau) and the verb trystio "to clatter". The name has also been interpreted as meaning "bold."

It became popularized through the character of Tristan, one of the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. The modern form is most likely influenced by the Latin root tristis (tant triste in the medieval French version of the myth), meaning "sad" or "sorrowful". The recent rise in the name Tristan is also attributed to a movie character of the same name played by actor Brad Pitt in the film Legends of the Fall.

Tristan has been consistently among the top 1,000 names given to baby boys in the United States since 1971. There are various alternate forms of the name (popularity in parentheses): Tristen (1432), Triston (326), Tristin (536), Tristian (423), Trystan (5000), and Trysten (1).

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