Chen
An East Asian name meaning "morning", "sun" or "truthful".
Name Census estimates that about 245 living Americans carry the first name Chen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Chen today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chen births was 2007 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chen. 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 Chen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
245
~ 1 in 1,398,997 Americans
Peak year
2007
14 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,110
Tracked since 1977
Census
Chen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,341 people with the first name Chen, which placed it at #3,343 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
#3,343
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,341 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
91.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.5%. The next largest groups are White (6.1%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Chen 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 Chen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander91.5% · 5,801
- White6.1% · 386
- Black or African American1.0% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 48
- Two or more races0.6% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Chen
Chen is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 250 total registrations, 193 (77.2%) were male and 57 (22.8%) were female.
Chen as a male name
- Ranked #9,110 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1983 (9 births)
Chen as a female name
- Ranked #17,108 in 2013
- 5 female births in 2013
- Peak: 2007 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chen on both sides of the split. Of the 6,337 people counted with this name, 3,466 were male (54.7%) and 2,871 were female (45.3%).
Popularity
Chen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chen from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 74 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chen 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 Chen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chen
The given name Chen has its origins in Chinese culture, dating back to ancient times. It is a Chinese surname that has also been used as a given name. The name is derived from the Chinese word "陳," which means "to spread out" or "to exhibit."
In ancient Chinese literature, the name Chen appears in various historical records and texts. One notable reference is found in the Shijing, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, which dates back to the early Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC). The name is also mentioned in the Spring and Autumn Annals, a historical record of the State of Lu from 722 to 481 BC.
The earliest recorded individual with the name Chen is Chen Sheng, a famous leader of a peasant uprising against the Qin Dynasty in 209 BC. His rebellion, known as the Dazexing Uprising, played a significant role in the eventual fall of the Qin Dynasty and the establishment of the Han Dynasty.
Throughout Chinese history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chen. One prominent figure is Chen Duxiu (1879–1942), a revolutionary and one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party. Another is Chen Qingying (1917–1986), a renowned scientist and mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of differential geometry.
In the realm of literature, Chen Zhihao (1920–1997) was a renowned Chinese playwright and novelist, best known for his works reflecting the struggles of the Chinese people during the Cultural Revolution.
Moving to the world of martial arts, Chen Xiaowang (1949–1981) was a legendary Chen-style Taijiquan (Tai Chi) master and founder of the Chen Village Taiji Quan School, renowned for his skill and dedication to preserving the traditional Chen-style Taijiquan.
It is essential to note that the name Chen has also been used in various other cultures and languages, such as Korean and Vietnamese, where it may have different meanings and origins.
People
Chen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chen 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
Chen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chen 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 1,398,997 US residents.
Is Chen a common name?
We classify Chen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chen most popular?
The single biggest year for Chen was 2007, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chen is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,341 people with the name Chen, or 2.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,343 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 Chen 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 Chen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chen on both sides of the split. Of the 6,337 people counted with this name, 3,466 were male (54.7%) and 2,871 were female (45.3%). 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 Chen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.5%. The next largest groups are White (6.1%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Chen most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Chen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.5% (5,801 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 Chen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chen a male name?
Yes, 77.2% of people registered as Chen 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 Chen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chen 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 Chen 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 have the name Chen?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.