Cerdic
An Old English name meaning "churlish" or "unrefined".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Cerdic. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cerdic today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cerdic births was 1977 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cerdic. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cerdic. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1977
5 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1977 SSA rank
#5,972
Tracked since 1977
Popularity
Cerdic: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Cerdic 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 Cerdic during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Cerdic
Cerdic is a given name of Anglo-Saxon origin, derived from the Old English words "cer" meaning "turn" or "occasion" and "ric" meaning "powerful" or "ruler". It was a common name among the early Anglo-Saxon kings and noblemen in England during the 5th and 6th centuries.
The name is believed to have originated from the legendary figure of Cerdic, who was the first king of Wessex, a Saxon kingdom in southern England. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cerdic and his son Cynric landed in Hampshire in 495 CE and established the kingdom of Wessex after a series of battles with the native Britons.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Cerdic was the aforementioned Cerdic of Wessex, who is said to have reigned from around 519 CE to 534 CE. Another notable bearer of the name was Cerdic, a 7th-century king of Elmet, a British kingdom in what is now West Yorkshire.
In the later Anglo-Saxon period, the name Cerdic was often used as a given name among the nobility and royalty. For instance, Cerdic was the name of a son of King Edward the Elder, who ruled from 899 CE to 924 CE. Cerdic the Forester, who lived in the late 10th century, was a prominent landowner in Somerset.
During the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, the popularity of the name Cerdic declined as French and Norman names became more fashionable among the ruling classes. However, the name continued to be used in some parts of England, particularly in areas with strong Anglo-Saxon heritage.
Other notable individuals named Cerdic include Cerdic Wawa, a 12th-century Anglo-Norman landowner in Gloucestershire, and Cerdic the Brewer, a wealthy beer merchant who lived in London during the reign of King Henry III (1216-1272 CE).
People
Cerdic + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cerdic 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
Cerdic: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cerdic?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cerdic 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Cerdic a common name?
We classify Cerdic as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cerdic most popular?
The single biggest year for Cerdic was 1977, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cerdic is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Cerdic in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cerdic a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cerdic in the SSA data are male. 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 Cerdic still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cerdic 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 Cerdic 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Cerdic?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.