Cindi
Feminine form of the name Cynthia, derived from Greek meaning "woman from Mount Cynthus".
Name Census estimates that about 6,335 living Americans carry the first name Cindi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cindi today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cindi births was 1958 (481 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cindi. 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
6.3K
~ 1 in 54,105 Americans
Peak year
1958
481 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2018 SSA rank
#12,770
Tracked since 1942
Popularity
Cindi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cindi from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 2,805 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cindi 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 Cindi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cindis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Cindi, while West Virginia, Mississippi, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 134 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cindi
The name Cindi is a diminutive form of the name Cynthia, which has its origins in Greek mythology. Cynthia was an epithet for the Greek goddess Artemis, who was the goddess of the moon, the hunt, and virginity. The name Cynthia is derived from the Greek word "Kynthos," which was the name of the mountain where Artemis was born on the island of Delos.
The first known use of the name Cynthia dates back to ancient Greece, where it was used as a poetic reference to Artemis. The name gained popularity during the Renaissance period, particularly in works by the English poet Ben Jonson, who used the name in his poetry and plays.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Cindi as a diminutive form of Cynthia can be found in the works of the American writer and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In his poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish," published in 1858, Longfellow uses the name Cindi as a character.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cindi or its variations. One of the earliest examples is Cynthia of Proconnesus, a Greek Pythagorean philosopher who lived in the 4th century BC. Another notable figure was Cynthia Annette Lummis Chalmers, an American author and historian who lived from 1830 to 1894.
In the 20th century, the name Cindi gained popularity, particularly in the entertainment industry. Cindi Lauper, the American singer-songwriter and actress, was born in 1953 and is known for her distinctive voice and fashion sense. Cindi Leive, an American journalist and editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine from 2001 to 2017, was born in 1966.
Another notable individual was Cynthia "Cindi" Mayweather, an American basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 2001 to 2008. She was born in 1979 and was a member of the Detroit Shock team that won the WNBA championship in 2003.
Cindi Michael, an American actress and model, was born in 1963 and is known for her roles in television shows such as "Baywatch" and "Silk Stalkings." Cindi Drennan, an American professional golfer, was born in 1971 and has won several tournaments on the LPGA Tour.
People
Cindi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cindi 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
Cindi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cindi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,335 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cindi 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 54,105 US residents.
Is Cindi a common name?
We classify Cindi as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,696 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cindi most popular?
The single biggest year for Cindi was 1958, when 481 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cindi is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Cindi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cindi 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.