Scherry
A feminine name derived from the French word for "cherry".
Name Census estimates that about 350 living Americans carry the first name Scherry. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Scherry today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Scherry births was 1949 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Scherry. 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
- • The typical person named Scherry is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Scherrys were born before 1967.
People living today
350
~ 1 in 979,298 Americans
Peak year
1949
32 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1975 SSA rank
#8,802
Tracked since 1939
Census
Scherry in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 424 people with the first name Scherry, which placed it at #23,170 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
#23,170
National first-name rank
People counted
424
424 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Scherry
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Scherry is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.9%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Scherry 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 Scherry at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.7% · 321
- Black or African American17.9% · 76
- Two or more races4.0% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 2
Popularity
Scherry: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Scherry from the 1930s through to the 1970s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 213 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
Scherry 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 Scherry during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Scherrys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Scherry
The name Scherry has its origins in ancient Germanic cultures, tracing back to the early medieval period around the 5th century AD. It is believed to be derived from the Old High German word "sker," which means "bright" or "shining." This name was likely given to children as a way to express the hope that they would grow up to be radiant and prominent individuals.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Scherry can be found in the Codex Sangallensis, an 8th-century manuscript containing a list of personal names from the Alemannic region of modern-day Switzerland and southern Germany. Here, the name appears as "Scerri," which is a variation of the same root word.
In the 11th century, a notable figure named Scherry of Augsburg was mentioned in the annals of the Benedictine monastery of St. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, Germany. He was a prominent scholar and theologian who contributed to the intellectual and religious discourse of his time.
During the 13th century, a French noblewoman named Scherry de Montfort was recorded as a participant in the Albigensian Crusade, a military campaign against the Cathar heretics in southern France. Her involvement in this significant historical event highlights the presence of the name across different European regions.
In the 15th century, an Italian artist named Scherry Bellini gained recognition for his exceptional frescoes and altarpieces. Born in Venice in 1430, he was part of the renowned Bellini family of painters and is celebrated for his contributions to the Renaissance art movement.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Scherry was Scherry Cibber, an English actor and playwright who lived from 1671 to 1757. He was a prominent figure in the theatrical world of his time and played a significant role in the development of English drama.
While the name Scherry may have fallen out of common use in more recent times, its rich historical background and connection to various cultures and influential figures across different eras make it a unique and intriguing name with a fascinating heritage.
People
Scherry + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Scherry as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Scherry: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Scherry?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 350 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Scherry 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 979,298 US residents.
Is Scherry a common name?
We classify Scherry as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 522 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Scherry most popular?
The single biggest year for Scherry was 1949, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Scherry is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Scherry in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 424 people with the name Scherry, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,170 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 Scherry 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 Scherry?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Scherry appears almost entirely female. Of the 412 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Scherry?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Scherry is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.9%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Scherry most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Scherry in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (321 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 Scherry in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Scherry a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Scherry 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.
Is Scherry still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Scherry 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 Scherry 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 common is the name Scherry?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.