Cinderella
A feminine given name derived from French words meaning "little ashes".
Name Census estimates that about 440 living Americans carry the first name Cinderella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cinderella today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cinderella births was 1922 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cinderella. 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
440
~ 1 in 778,987 Americans
Peak year
1922
25 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,731
Tracked since 1894
Popularity
Cinderella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cinderella from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 162 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cinderella 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 Cinderella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cinderellas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cinderella
The name Cinderella is derived from the French phrase "cendre" meaning "ash," and the diminutive suffix "ella," creating the meaning "little ashen one." This name first gained popularity through the famous fairy tale of the same name, which has roots dating back to the 1st century BC in ancient Greece.
The earliest known version of the Cinderella story was recorded by the Greek writer Straton of Sardis in the 1st century BC. In this version, a Greek courtesan named Rhodopis is the protagonist, and her name means "rosy-cheeked." The story was later adapted by the Roman writer Aulus Gellius in the 2nd century AD.
The name Cinderella itself first appeared in the 17th century, when the French author Charles Perrault published his version of the folk tale in 1697. This version, titled "Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre" (Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper), is the most well-known and influential rendition of the story.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Cinderella was Cinderella Seyboldt, born in 1665 in Germany. Another notable figure was Cinderella Schmähling, a German author and poet who lived from 1805 to 1885.
In the realm of literature, Cinderella Dronke was a renowned British philologist and scholar of medieval literature, born in 1936. She made significant contributions to the study of Old English and Old Norse texts.
Moving to the performing arts, Cinderella Gonzalez was a Mexican actress and singer who graced the stage and screen from the 1940s to the 1960s. She is remembered for her roles in various Mexican films and television shows.
Lastly, Cinderella Klussmann, born in 1957, is a German journalist and author known for her work as a correspondent for publications like The New York Times and Der Spiegel.
People
Cinderella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cinderella 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
Cinderella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cinderella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 440 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cinderella 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 778,987 US residents.
Is Cinderella a common name?
We classify Cinderella as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 908 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cinderella most popular?
The single biggest year for Cinderella was 1922, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cinderella is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Cinderella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cinderella 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.
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.