Chera
A feminine Indian name representing divine motherly love and affection.
Name Census estimates that about 429 living Americans carry the first name Chera. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chera today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chera births was 1973 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chera. 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.
People living today
429
~ 1 in 798,961 Americans
Peak year
1973
35 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1999 SSA rank
#8,346
Tracked since 1957
Census
Chera in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 466 people with the first name Chera, which placed it at #21,679 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
#21,679
National first-name rank
People counted
466
466 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chera
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chera is White at 73.2%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Chera 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 Chera at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.2% · 341
- Black or African American14.6% · 68
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 19
- Two or more races3.0% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 12
Popularity
Chera: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chera from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 219 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chera 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 Chera during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cheras live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chera
The given name Chera has its origins in the Malayalam language, spoken primarily in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is believed to have originated from the ancient Chera dynasty, which ruled over parts of present-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu between the 3rd century BCE and the 9th century CE.
The name Chera is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Chera' or 'Cera,' which was the name of the ancient Tamil dynasty. The Chera kingdom was one of the three principal kingdoms of ancient Tamil Nadu, along with the Chola and Pandya kingdoms.
In ancient Tamil literature, such as the Sangam literature, the Chera kings and their kingdom are frequently mentioned. The Silappadikaram, an epic Tamil literature work, contains references to the Chera kingdom and its rulers.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chera can be found in the Sangam era (c. 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE). During this time, several Chera kings ruled over the region, including Chera Chengannan, who is mentioned in the Sangam literature.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Chera. One of the most famous was Chera Perumal, also known as Kulasekhara Varman, who ruled the Chera kingdom in the 9th century CE. He is renowned for his patronage of the arts and literature.
Another prominent figure was Chera Udayamarthandavarma, a Chera ruler from the 9th century CE, who is credited with the construction of several temples and architectural marvels in Kerala.
In more recent times, Chera was the name of a notable Indian freedom fighter, Chera Pulayakaran, who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement in the early 20th century.
Additionally, Chera Iyer was an influential Tamil scholar and writer from the 19th century, known for his contributions to Tamil literature and language.
Chera has also been used as a given name by individuals from various backgrounds, including Chera Suri, an Indian mathematician and astronomer from the 16th century, and Chera Karthik, a contemporary Indian cricketer.
People
Chera + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chera 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
Chera: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chera?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 429 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chera 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 798,961 US residents.
Is Chera a common name?
We classify Chera as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 468 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chera most popular?
The single biggest year for Chera was 1973, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chera is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chera in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 466 people with the name Chera, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,679 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 Chera 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 Chera?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chera leans strongly female. 464 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 7 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Chera?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chera is White at 73.2%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Chera most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chera in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.2% (341 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 Chera in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chera a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chera 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 Chera still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chera 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 Chera 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 Chera?
Want to know how many Americans are named Chera? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.