Cherie
A French feminine name meaning "darling" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 23,358 living Americans carry the first name Cherie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cherie today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cherie births was 1970 (1,002 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cherie. 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 Cherie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
23K
~ 1 in 14,674 Americans
Peak year
1970
1,002 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1983 SSA rank
#6,394
Tracked since 1910
Census
Cherie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 25,033 people with the first name Cherie, which placed it at #1,394 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
#1,394
National first-name rank
People counted
25K
25,033 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cherie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cherie is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.6%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Cherie 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 Cherie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.3% · 19,862
- Black or African American9.6% · 2,393
- Two or more races4.3% · 1,065
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 812
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 678
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 223
Gender
Gender distribution for Cherie
Out of the 29,983 babies given the name Cherie since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Cherie as a male name
- Ranked #6,394 in 1983
- 5 male births in 1983
- Peak: 1964 (6 births)
Cherie as a female name
- Ranked #6,971 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (1,002 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cherie appears almost entirely female. Of the 25,040 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Cherie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cherie from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 8,379 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cherie 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 Cherie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cheries live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Michigan, Ohio recorded the most babies named Cherie, while Wyoming, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 535 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cherie
The name Cherie is derived from the French language and has its origins in the Middle Ages. It is a feminine form of the Old French word "cher," meaning "dear" or "beloved." The name was initially used as a term of endearment before becoming a given name in its own right.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the French poetry known as "courtly love" became popular among the aristocracy. Chivalric knights and troubadours would often address their beloved ladies as "ma cherie" (my dear) in their romantic verses and songs. This association with love and affection contributed to the name's eventual adoption as a personal name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Cherie as a given name can be found in the 15th century, when a French noblewoman named Cherie de Valois lived during the reign of King Charles VII. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until the 17th and 18th centuries, when it became fashionable among the French nobility and upper classes.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Cherie. One of the most famous was Cherie Francois Dugast (1711-1796), a French courtesan and socialite who was a prominent figure in the salons of Paris during the Enlightenment period. Another was Cherie Paultre (1768-1855), a French writer and translator who was active during the Napoleonic era.
In the 20th century, Cherie Booth (born 1954) gained international recognition as a prominent British barrister and the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Cherie Currie (born 1959) was the lead singer of the iconic American rock band The Runaways, known for their hit single "Cherry Bomb."
Additionally, Cherie Lunghi (born 1952) is an English actress known for her roles in various television shows and films, while Cherie Winfield (born 1964) is an American former professional tennis player who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 19 in the world.
People
Cherie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cherie 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
Cherie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cherie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,358 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cherie 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 14,674 US residents.
Is Cherie a common name?
We classify Cherie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29,983 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cherie most popular?
The single biggest year for Cherie was 1970, when 1,002 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cherie is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cherie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 25,033 people with the name Cherie, or 8.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,394 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 Cherie 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 Cherie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cherie appears almost entirely female. Of the 25,040 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Cherie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cherie is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.6%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Cherie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cherie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (19,862 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 Cherie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cherie a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Cherie 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 Cherie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cherie 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 Cherie 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 Cherie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.