Cheyene
A feminine name of Native American origin meaning "nomadic" or "alien".
Name Census estimates that about 722 living Americans carry the first name Cheyene. It is a predominantly female name (97.0% of registrations). The average person named Cheyene today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cheyene births was 1997 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cheyene. 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
722
~ 1 in 474,729 Americans
Peak year
1997
57 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
1999 SSA rank
#10,166
Tracked since 1976
Census
Cheyene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 861 people with the first name Cheyene, which placed it at #13,877 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
#13,877
National first-name rank
People counted
861
861 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cheyene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cheyene is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.5%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Cheyene 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 Cheyene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 610
- Hispanic or Latino9.5% · 82
- Black or African American7.7% · 66
- Two or more races6.7% · 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.6% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Cheyene
Cheyene leans heavily female at 97.0% of total registrations, but 22 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cheyene as a male name
- Ranked #10,166 in 1999
- 5 male births in 1999
- Peak: 1991 (6 births)
Cheyene as a female name
- Ranked #11,459 in 2010
- 9 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1997 (57 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cheyene leans strongly female. 811 people counted with this name were female (94.1%), compared with 51 male bearers (5.9%).
Popularity
Cheyene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cheyene from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 434 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cheyene 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 Cheyene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cheyenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Cheyene, while Ohio, New York, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cheyene
The name Cheyene has its origins in the Native American Cheyenne tribe, one of the most prominent Great Plains tribes in North America. The Cheyenne people originally lived in present-day Minnesota before migrating westward across the Great Plains in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family, and the name Cheyene is derived from the tribe's self-designated name, "Tsę́hesenėstǫhese," which means "those who are of alien speech." The earliest recorded use of the name Cheyene dates back to the late 17th century when French explorers encountered the tribe and recorded their name.
While the name Cheyene does not appear in any ancient texts or religious scriptures, it holds significant historical and cultural significance for the Cheyenne people. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Cheyene was Cheyene Black Horse, a Cheyenne warrior who fought against the United States Army in the late 19th century during the Indian Wars.
Another notable figure with the name Cheyene was Cheyene Autumn Herd, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and a prominent advocate for Native American rights in the 20th century. She was born in 1922 and played a crucial role in preserving the Cheyenne language and cultural traditions.
In the realm of literature, Cheyene Mendoza is a celebrated contemporary Native American author known for her novels and short stories depicting the experiences of the Cheyenne people. She was born in 1976 and has received numerous awards for her literary works.
The name Cheyene also gained recognition in the field of sports with Cheyene Hoskins, a professional basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) during the early 2000s. She was born in 1980 and had a successful career representing the Cheyenne tribe on the professional stage.
Another notable figure with the name Cheyene is Cheyene Tokalau, a contemporary Cheyenne artist known for her vibrant paintings and sculptures that celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the Cheyenne people. She was born in 1985 and has exhibited her works in various galleries and museums across the United States.
People
Cheyene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cheyene 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
Cheyene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cheyene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 722 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cheyene 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 474,729 US residents.
Is Cheyene a common name?
We classify Cheyene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 742 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cheyene most popular?
The single biggest year for Cheyene was 1997, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cheyene is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cheyene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 861 people with the name Cheyene, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,877 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 Cheyene 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 Cheyene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cheyene leans strongly female. 811 people counted with this name were female (94.1%), compared with 51 male bearers (5.9%). 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 Cheyene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cheyene is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.5%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Cheyene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cheyene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (610 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 Cheyene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cheyene a female name?
Yes, 97.0% of people registered as Cheyene 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 Cheyene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cheyene 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 Cheyene 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 are named Cheyene?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Cheyene at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.