Pet form of Christine or Christopher, from Greek 'christos' meaning anointed one.
Christie flows from the deep well of Christina and Christopher, both ultimately derived from the Greek Christos, meaning "the anointed one" — a title that passed from ancient Greek royal tradition into the vocabulary of early Christianity. As a given name Christie functioned for centuries as a familiar diminutive of Christina or Christine, and in Scotland it also developed independently as a diminutive of Christopher, making it one of the rare names that crossed the gender divide with relative ease. Its soft, approachable sound helped it thrive as an affectionate form long before it stood alone on birth certificates.
The name's cultural stature was enormously elevated by Agatha Christie, the English crime writer born in 1890, who became the best-selling fiction writer of all time. Her name became synonymous with ingenious plotting, Miss Marple, and Hercule Poirot, embedding Christie in the global imagination as a byword for clever, composed intelligence. Christie Brinkley, the American supermodel who defined a certain era of glamour in the 1980s, further gave the name a vivid contemporary face.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Christie enjoyed considerable popularity as a standalone given name in the United States and United Kingdom. Today Christie occupies a pleasantly retro register — familiar without feeling dated, breezy without sacrificing substance. Its associations are overwhelmingly warm: the wit of detective fiction, the golden ease of the Brinkley era, and the simple friendliness of a name worn comfortably by generations of real people. Parents drawn to classic femininity with a light, unpretentious touch often find Christie exactly right.