Chenille
A French feminine name referring to a velvety silk yarn.
Name Census estimates that about 197 living Americans carry the first name Chenille. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chenille today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chenille births was 2002 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chenille. 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 Chenille with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
197
~ 1 in 1,739,870 Americans
Peak year
2002
16 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2007 SSA rank
#15,907
Tracked since 1971
Census
Chenille in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 236 people with the first name Chenille, which placed it at #34,545 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
#34,545
National first-name rank
People counted
236
236 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chenille
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chenille is Black at 53.0%. The next largest groups are White (16.9%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Chenille 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 Chenille at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.0% · 125
- White16.9% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.1% · 12
- Two or more races5.1% · 12
Popularity
Chenille: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chenille from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 72 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chenille 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 Chenille during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chenille
Chenille is a feminine given name with its origins rooted in the French language. The name is derived from the French word "chenille," which means "caterpillar." It is believed to have emerged during the 18th century in France, possibly as a nickname or pet name for a child with curly or fuzzy hair resembling a caterpillar's texture.
One of the earliest documented uses of the name Chenille can be found in the records of the French playwright and poet Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, who lived from 1732 to 1799. In his play "The Barber of Seville," one of the characters is named Chenille, although it is unclear whether this was intended as a given name or a descriptive nickname.
The name Chenille gained some popularity in France during the 19th century, with a few notable individuals bearing this name. One such person was Chenille Durand (1804-1878), a French poet and essayist who wrote extensively on the themes of nature and the countryside.
Another early recorded instance of the name Chenille can be found in the writings of the French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850). In his novel "The Human Comedy," a minor character named Chenille is mentioned, though her role is relatively insignificant.
In the late 19th century, the name Chenille made its way to the United States, likely brought over by French immigrants. One of the earliest recorded Americans with the name was Chenille LaBarge (1856-1932), a seamstress and entrepreneur from Louisiana who founded a successful clothing business in New Orleans.
Another notable individual with the name Chenille was Chenille Bourgeois (1878-1957), a French-Canadian artist and painter known for her vibrant landscapes and portraits. Her works were exhibited in several galleries throughout Canada and the United States during her lifetime.
While the name Chenille has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been carried by a few other individuals of note, such as Chenille Fontaine (1902-1984), a French actress and dancer who performed in various Parisian cabarets during the 1920s and 1930s, and Chenille Mercier (1919-2005), a Swiss sculptor and installation artist whose works were displayed in several prominent museums across Europe.
People
Chenille + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chenille 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
Chenille: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chenille?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 197 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chenille 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 1,739,870 US residents.
Is Chenille a common name?
We classify Chenille as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chenille most popular?
The single biggest year for Chenille was 2002, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chenille is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chenille in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 236 people with the name Chenille, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,545 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 Chenille 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 Chenille?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chenille appears almost entirely female. Of the 239 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Chenille?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chenille is Black at 53.0%. The next largest groups are White (16.9%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Chenille most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Chenille in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.0% (125 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 Chenille in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chenille a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chenille 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 Chenille still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chenille 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 Chenille 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 share the name Chenille?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.