Cinque
Of Italian origin, meaning simply "five".
Name Census estimates that about 328 living Americans carry the first name Cinque. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cinque today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cinque births was 1998 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cinque. 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
328
~ 1 in 1,044,983 Americans
Peak year
1998
27 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,022
Tracked since 1969
Census
Cinque in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 301 people with the first name Cinque, which placed it at #29,423 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
#29,423
National first-name rank
People counted
301
301 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cinque
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cinque is Black at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Cinque 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 Cinque at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.0% · 259
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 18
- Two or more races6.0% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
- White0.7% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Cinque: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cinque from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 111 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
Cinque 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 Cinque during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cinques live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cinque
The given name Cinque has its origins in the Italian language. It is derived from the Italian word "cinque," which means "five" in English. The name is believed to have originated in Italy during the medieval period.
Cinque is thought to have been used as a nickname or given name for children born as the fifth child in a family. In Italian culture, numerical names were sometimes given to children to signify their birth order within the family.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Cinque can be found in the writings of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who lived from 1265 to 1321. In his literary work, Dante mentions a character named Cinque di Terzino, suggesting that the name was in use during that time period.
The name gained further prominence in the 16th century when it was associated with a famous African-born slave named Cinque. Cinque was one of the leaders of the Amistad rebellion in 1839, where a group of captive Africans seized control of the Spanish slave ship Amistad. His courage and determination in fighting for freedom made him a celebrated figure in the abolitionist movement.
Another notable figure with the name Cinque was Cinque Hayford (1855-1919), a Ghanaian writer and educator who played a significant role in promoting education and cultural preservation in West Africa.
In the literary world, Cinque also appears as the name of a character in the novel "Roots" by Alex Haley, published in 1976. This character was based on Cinque, the leader of the Amistad rebellion.
Other historical figures with the name Cinque include Cinque Terre (1270-1349), an Italian explorer and navigator, and Cinque Campi (1492-1567), an Italian painter and sculptor during the Renaissance period.
While the name Cinque is not as common as many other Italian names, it has maintained a presence throughout history, often associated with individuals who have left a lasting impact in various fields, from literature and art to social movements and exploration.
People
Cinque + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cinque 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
Cinque: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cinque?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 328 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cinque 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 1,044,983 US residents.
Is Cinque a common name?
We classify Cinque as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.2% 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 Cinque most popular?
The single biggest year for Cinque was 1998, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cinque is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cinque in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 301 people with the name Cinque, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,423 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 Cinque 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 Cinque?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cinque leans strongly male. 283 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 9 female bearers (3.1%). 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 Cinque?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cinque is Black at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Cinque most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Cinque in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (259 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 Cinque in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cinque a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cinque 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.
Is Cinque still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cinque 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 Cinque 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 share the name Cinque?
Find out how many Americans are named Cinque on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.