Cupid
God of love and desire in Roman mythology.
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Cupid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cupid today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cupid births was 1981 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cupid. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cupid. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1981
6 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,589
Tracked since 1981
Popularity
Cupid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cupid from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cupid 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 Cupid 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 Cupid
Cupid is a given name with its roots in the Roman mythology and Latin language. It originated from the Latin word "cupido," which means desire or love. The name refers to the Roman god of love, who was depicted as a winged boy with a bow and arrows.
The earliest known reference to Cupid can be found in the writings of the ancient Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his famous work "Metamorphoses," Ovid described Cupid as the son of Venus, the goddess of love, and Mars, the god of war.
One of the earliest recorded individuals to bear the name Cupid was a Roman soldier named Cupid Campestris, who lived during the 1st century AD. He was mentioned in the writings of the Roman historian Suetonius.
In the Middle Ages, the name Cupid became associated with romantic love and courtly love traditions. The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) mentioned Cupid in his famous work "Divine Comedy," where he personified the concept of love.
During the Renaissance period, the name Cupid gained further popularity in art and literature. The Italian artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) depicted Cupid in his famous painting "The Birth of Venus," which became an iconic representation of the god of love.
Another notable individual named Cupid was the English poet and playwright Ben Jonson (1572-1637), who used the name "Cupid" as a character in several of his plays, including "The Masque of Blackness" and "The Masque of Beauty."
In the 19th century, the name Cupid appeared in the works of the English Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821), who wrote several poems inspired by the mythological figure, such as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Lamia."
While the name Cupid is not as commonly used as a given name today, it has left a lasting cultural impact and remains a symbol of romantic love and desire in literature, art, and popular culture.
People
Cupid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cupid 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
Cupid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cupid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cupid 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Cupid a common name?
We classify Cupid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cupid most popular?
The single biggest year for Cupid was 1981, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cupid is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Cupid in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cupid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cupid 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 Cupid still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cupid 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 Cupid 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Cupid?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Cupid, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.