Cameo
A gemstone etching showing relief images and portraits.
Name Census estimates that about 1,621 living Americans carry the first name Cameo. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Cameo today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cameo births was 1992 (73 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cameo. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cameo with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 211,446 Americans
Peak year
1992
73 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2017 SSA rank
#12,587
Tracked since 1957
Census
Cameo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,488 people with the first name Cameo, which placed it at #9,364 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,364
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cameo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cameo is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.0%) and Hispanic (7.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cameo described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cameo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 854
- Black or African American24.0% · 357
- Hispanic or Latino7.6% · 113
- Two or more races7.5% · 112
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Cameo
Cameo leans heavily female at 87.3% of total registrations, but 218 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cameo as a male name
- Ranked #12,587 in 2017
- 5 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1987 (19 births)
Cameo as a female name
- Ranked #13,773 in 2020
- 6 female births in 2020
- Peak: 1992 (68 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cameo leans strongly female. 1,300 people counted with this name were female (87.5%), compared with 186 male bearers (12.5%).
Popularity
Cameo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cameo from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 614 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cameo by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cameo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cameos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Cameo, while Utah, North Carolina, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cameo
The name Cameo finds its origins in the Latin word "camaeus," which refers to a gem carved in relief. The name gained popularity during the Renaissance period in Italy, particularly among artists and aristocrats who appreciated the beauty and craftsmanship of carved cameo jewelry.
The earliest recorded use of Cameo as a given name dates back to the 16th century in Italy. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Cameo Arrighi, an Italian calligrapher and type designer who lived from around 1475 to 1527. His work significantly influenced the development of italic script and typeface design.
Another historical figure with the name Cameo was Cameo Gabbrielli, an Italian painter who lived from 1554 to 1627. He is known for his religious paintings and frescoes, which can be found in various churches throughout Italy.
In the 18th century, the name Cameo gained popularity in France. One notable bearer of this name was Cameo de La Tour, a French painter and pastellist who lived from 1704 to 1788. She was renowned for her portraits and was elected to the prestigious Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1746.
The name Cameo also has roots in ancient Greek mythology. In Greek legend, there was a figure named Cameo, who was a nymph associated with the island of Rhodes. She was said to be the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and her name was sometimes used as a poetic reference to the beautiful island.
Another notable figure with the name Cameo was Cameo Golgi, an Italian physician and scientist who lived from 1843 to 1926. He is best known for his pioneering work in cytology and the discovery of the Golgi apparatus, an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906 for his contributions to the field of cell biology.
Throughout history, the name Cameo has been associated with beauty, art, and craftsmanship, reflecting its origins in the exquisite carved cameo gems of the Renaissance period. While not as common as some other names, it has left its mark on various cultural and scientific fields, carried by individuals who made significant contributions in their respective domains.
People
Cameo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cameo as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cameo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cameo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,621 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cameo going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 211,446 US residents.
Is Cameo a common name?
We classify Cameo as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,719 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cameo most popular?
The single biggest year for Cameo was 1992, when 73 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cameo is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cameo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,488 people with the name Cameo, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,364 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cameo in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cameo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cameo leans strongly female. 1,300 people counted with this name were female (87.5%), compared with 186 male bearers (12.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cameo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cameo is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.0%) and Hispanic (7.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cameo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cameo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (854 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cameo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cameo a female name?
Yes, 87.3% of people registered as Cameo in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cameo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cameo in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cameo can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Cameo?
You can see how many people have the name Cameo on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.