What does Tristan mean?

Answer 1

According to "A Dictionary of First Names" by Hanks and Hodges, the name "Tristan" occurs in English, Welsh and French and is a variant of "Tristram." The name "Tristram" is of unknown derivation, although it may be related to the Pictish "Drostan." The origins of the "Tristram" are unrecoverable because the name has been transmitted through Old French sources that associated it with the Latin tristis, meaning "sad," a reference to the sad fate of Tristram in the medieval romance of "Tristram and Isolde."