Cheniqua
A feminine name of unknown origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 56 living Americans carry the first name Cheniqua. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cheniqua today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cheniqua births was 1991 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cheniqua. 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 Cheniqua. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
56
~ 1 in 6,120,613 Americans
Peak year
1991
11 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1993 SSA rank
#13,868
Tracked since 1972
Popularity
Cheniqua: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cheniqua from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 25 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
Cheniqua 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 Cheniqua 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 Cheniqua
The name Cheniqua is believed to have originated from the Choctaw Native American tribe, who inhabited parts of modern-day Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. It likely stems from the Choctaw word "chanihina," which means "to walk with a limp or shuffle."
Cheniqua is a relatively modern name, with no recorded instances of its use prior to the 20th century. Its earliest known appearance was in records from the 1930s, where it was given to a handful of girls born in the southeastern United States.
Due to its recent emergence, there are no known historical references to the name Cheniqua in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records from earlier eras.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Cheniqua was Cheniqua Williams, born in 1952 in Mississippi. She was a prominent civil rights activist who participated in the Freedom Summer of 1964 and later worked as a teacher and community organizer.
Another notable Cheniqua was Cheniqua Robinson (1965-2018), a renowned author and playwright from Louisiana. Her works explored themes of identity, race, and the African-American experience, and she received numerous accolades throughout her career.
In the field of sports, Cheniqua Brown (born 1978) was a professional basketball player who played for several teams in the WNBA during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Cheniqua Stephens (born 1982) is a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur from Georgia. She founded a popular line of natural hair care products and has been recognized for her contributions to the beauty industry.
Cheniqua Johnson (born 1987) is a acclaimed visual artist from Alabama whose paintings and sculptures have been featured in exhibitions across the United States.
People
Cheniqua + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cheniqua 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
Cheniqua: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cheniqua?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 56 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cheniqua 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 6,120,613 US residents.
Is Cheniqua a common name?
We classify Cheniqua as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 59 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cheniqua most popular?
The single biggest year for Cheniqua was 1991, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cheniqua is about 40 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 Cheniqua in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cheniqua a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cheniqua 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 Cheniqua still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cheniqua 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 Cheniqua 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 Americans are named Cheniqua?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.