Cherity
A feminine English name meaning "benevolent love for humankind".
Name Census estimates that about 213 living Americans carry the first name Cherity. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cherity today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cherity births was 1972 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cherity. 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
213
~ 1 in 1,609,175 Americans
Peak year
1972
19 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2013 SSA rank
#15,016
Tracked since 1970
Census
Cherity in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 281 people with the first name Cherity, which placed it at #30,797 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
#30,797
National first-name rank
People counted
281
281 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cherity
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cherity is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Cherity 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 Cherity at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.4% · 195
- Black or African American17.4% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 13
- Two or more races4.6% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 4
Popularity
Cherity: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cherity from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 119 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
Cherity 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 Cherity 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 Cherity
The name Cherity is an English variant of the more common name Charity, which has its origins in the Latin word "caritas," meaning "love" or "affection." The name was likely first used in English-speaking regions during the Middle Ages, when the concept of charity, or selfless love and concern for others, was a central tenet of Christian teachings.
In the early days of Christianity, the word "caritas" was often used to refer to the virtue of charity, which was considered one of the three theological virtues, along with faith and hope. The name Cherity, therefore, would have been associated with these ideals of compassion, generosity, and a willingness to help those in need.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cherity can be found in the English Parish Registers from the 16th century. For example, a record from the parish of St. Mary's in Islington, London, mentions a Cherity Smythe who was baptized in 1587.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Cherity. In the 17th century, Cherity Bunbury (1630-1692) was an English landowner and philanthropist who founded a school for underprivileged children in Suffolk.
In the 19th century, Cherity Galloway (1815-1888) was an American educator and abolitionist who established one of the first schools for African Americans in Mississippi.
Another notable figure was Cherity Witherspoon (1872-1948), a Scottish suffragette and campaigner for women's rights, who played a significant role in the Women's Social and Political Union's efforts to secure voting rights for women in the United Kingdom.
In the field of literature, Cherity Brooke (1901-1982) was an American novelist and short story writer whose works often explored themes of love, family, and the complexities of human relationships.
Lastly, Cherity Hollins (1925-2003) was a renowned American jazz singer and pianist who performed with some of the greatest names in jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey.
While the name Cherity may not be as common today as its more widely recognized variant, Charity, it has a rich history and a connection to the ideals of love, compassion, and a commitment to helping others.
People
Cherity + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cherity 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
Cherity: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cherity?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 213 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cherity 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 1,609,175 US residents.
Is Cherity a common name?
We classify Cherity as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 230 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cherity most popular?
The single biggest year for Cherity was 1972, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cherity is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cherity in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 281 people with the name Cherity, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,797 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 Cherity 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 Cherity?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cherity appears almost entirely female. Of the 281 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 Cherity?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cherity is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Cherity most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cherity in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (195 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 Cherity in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cherity a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cherity 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 Cherity still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cherity 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 Cherity 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 Cherity?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.