Chidinma
A feminine Nigerian name meaning "God gives me."
Name Census estimates that about 333 living Americans carry the first name Chidinma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chidinma today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chidinma births was 1996 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chidinma. 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 Chidinma with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
333
~ 1 in 1,029,292 Americans
Peak year
1996
21 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,389
Tracked since 1983
Census
Chidinma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 736 people with the first name Chidinma, which placed it at #15,588 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
#15,588
National first-name rank
People counted
736
736 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chidinma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chidinma is Black at 97.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Chidinma 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 Chidinma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.1% · 715
- White1.1% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 4
- Two or more races0.4% · 3
Popularity
Chidinma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chidinma from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 101 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Chidinma remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chidinma 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 Chidinma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chidinmas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chidinma
The name Chidinma originates from the Igbo language spoken in southeastern Nigeria. It is a compound name composed of two Igbo words: "Chi" meaning God or the supreme deity, and "dinma" meaning to be good, kind, or beautiful. Thus, the name Chidinma translates to "God is beautiful" or "God is kind."
This name is believed to have originated in the pre-colonial era, before the widespread adoption of Christianity in the region. It reflects the traditional Igbo belief system that revered a supreme deity and emphasized virtues like kindness and beauty.
While the exact origin of the name is difficult to trace, it is likely that Chidinma was a name given to children in the hope that they would embody the qualities of beauty and kindness associated with the supreme deity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chidinma appears in the literary work "Things Fall Apart" by the renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, published in 1958. In this novel, Chidinma is the name of a character, indicating the name's use in the Igbo culture during the early 20th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chidinma. One example is Chidinma Ekile (born 1991), a Nigerian singer and songwriter known for her hit songs like "Kedike" and "Emi Ni Baller." Another is Chidinma Okeke (born 1988), a Nigerian writer and journalist known for her work on gender and human rights issues.
Other notable individuals with the name include Chidinma Anya (born 1976), a Nigerian-American lawyer and author, and Chidinma Okebalama (born 1982), a Nigerian chemist and academic who has made significant contributions to the field of nanotechnology.
It is worth mentioning that the name Chidinma has also been used in various literary works and cultural productions, further solidifying its place in the Igbo cultural heritage.
People
Chidinma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chidinma 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
Chidinma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chidinma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 333 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chidinma 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 1,029,292 US residents.
Is Chidinma a common name?
We classify Chidinma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 339 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chidinma most popular?
The single biggest year for Chidinma was 1996, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chidinma is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chidinma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 736 people with the name Chidinma, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,588 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 Chidinma 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 Chidinma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chidinma leans strongly female. 724 people counted with this name were female (98.0%), compared with 15 male bearers (2.0%). 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 Chidinma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chidinma is Black at 97.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Chidinma most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Chidinma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.1% (715 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 Chidinma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chidinma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chidinma 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 Chidinma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chidinma 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 Chidinma 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 have Chidinma as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Chidinma at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.