Cid
Lord or master, derived from the Arabic "sayyid".
Name Census estimates that about 197 living Americans carry the first name Cid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cid today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cid births was 1971 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cid. 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
197
~ 1 in 1,739,870 Americans
Peak year
1971
10 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,395
Tracked since 1962
Popularity
Cid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cid from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 53 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cid 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 Cid 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 Cid
The name Cid is a Spanish given name derived from the Arabic term "al-sīd" meaning "the lord" or "the master." Its origins trace back to the 11th century during the Islamic rule in the Iberian Peninsula. The name gained prominence through the legendary figure of El Cid, a Castilian nobleman and military leader whose birth name was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043-1099).
El Cid was a famous Castilian hero who fought against the Moors and played a crucial role in the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Islamic rule. His exploits were immortalized in the epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," which dates back to the 12th century and is considered one of the masterpieces of Spanish literature.
The name Cid has been widely used in Spanish-speaking cultures, particularly in Spain and Latin America, often as a reference to the legendary figure of El Cid. It has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history, including Cid Campeador (c. 1040-1099), the full name of the famous Spanish military leader Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar; Cid Hispalensis (c. 1437-1512), a Spanish philosopher and theologian; Cid Corneille (1592-1694), a French dramatist and tragedian; and Cid Rimando (born 1980), an American soccer goalkeeper.
Other famous bearers of the name Cid include Cid Moreira (born 1938), a Brazilian journalist and television presenter; Cid Garcés (born 1962), a Chilean football player; and Cid Torquato (born 1980), a Brazilian mixed martial artist. The name has also been used in literature and popular culture, such as in the character of Cid Campeador in the opera "Le Cid" by Jules Massenet, and in the novel "El Cid" by José Zorrilla.
People
Cid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cid 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
Cid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 197 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cid 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 1,739,870 US residents.
Is Cid a common name?
We classify Cid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 206 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cid most popular?
The single biggest year for Cid was 1971, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cid is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Cid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cid in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.