Cory
A Greek masculine name meaning "main man" or "crown".
Name Census estimates that about 126,847 living Americans carry the first name Cory. It is a predominantly male name (95.1% of registrations). The average person named Cory today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cory births was 1989 (6,660 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cory. 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 Cory with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Cory is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 6,585 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Cory have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
127K
~ 1 in 2,702 Americans
Peak year
1989
6,660 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,093
Tracked since 1924
Census
Cory in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 113,341 people with the first name Cory, which placed it at #496 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
#496
National first-name rank
People counted
113K
113,341 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
37.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cory
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cory is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Cory 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 Cory at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.4% · 91,164
- Black or African American10.1% · 11,454
- Two or more races3.8% · 4,341
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 4,192
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 1,215
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 975
Gender
Gender distribution for Cory
Cory leans heavily male at 95.1% of total registrations, but 6,585 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cory as a male name
- Ranked #1,093 in 2024
- 197 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (6,450 births)
Cory as a female name
- Ranked #6,974 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1978 (283 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cory leans strongly male. 107,479 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 5,861 female bearers (5.2%).
Popularity
Cory: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cory from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 46,432 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cory 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 Cory during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Corys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Cory, while Vermont, District of Columbia, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,523 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cory
The name Cory has its origins in the Greek word "korios," meaning "son" or "young man." It first appeared in ancient Greece around the 5th century BC and was used as a diminutive form of names like Corinthos or Coriander.
Over time, the name spread throughout the Mediterranean region and eventually made its way to the British Isles. In the Middle Ages, the name took on various spellings, such as Cori, Corie, and Korie, but the modern spelling of Cory became more prevalent in the 16th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cory can be found in the works of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who wrote a character named Corydon in his play "The Wasps" around 422 BC. However, it's unclear whether this was an actual name or a literary creation.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Cory. In the 17th century, Cory Townsend (1625-1701) was an English politician and Member of Parliament for West Looe. In the 19th century, Cory Winfield (1854-1912) was an American journalist and political activist known for his advocacy of women's suffrage.
Moving into the 20th century, Cory Aquino (1933-2009) was a prominent Filipino political figure who served as the 11th President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. Cory Unrau (1955-2007) was a Canadian actor best known for his roles in TV shows like "Due South" and "The X-Files."
More recently, Cory Monteith (1982-2013) was a Canadian actor and singer who gained fame for his role as Finn Hudson on the popular TV series "Glee." Sadly, he passed away at the young age of 31 due to a drug overdose.
While the name Cory has seen ebbs and flows in popularity over the centuries, its Greek roots and historical significance have ensured that it remains a recognizable and meaningful name in various cultures around the world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Cory
People
Cory + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cory 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
Cory: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cory?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 126,847 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cory 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 2,702 US residents.
Is Cory a common name?
We classify Cory as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 133,608 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cory most popular?
The single biggest year for Cory was 1989, when 6,660 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cory is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cory in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 113,341 people with the name Cory, or 37.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #496 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 Cory 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 Cory?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cory leans strongly male. 107,479 people counted with this name were male (94.8%), compared with 5,861 female bearers (5.2%). 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 Cory?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cory is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Cory most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cory in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.4% (91,164 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 Cory in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cory a male name?
Yes, 95.1% of people registered as Cory 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 Cory still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cory 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 Cory 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 are called Cory?
You can see how many Americans are named Cory on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.