Cephas
Cephas was given to 19 boys in 2025, #5,069 among boys’ names; 930 Americans have been recorded with it since 1898 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cephas by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cephas mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cephas is “a male given name from Aramaic of biblical origin.” Its etymology gives the sense “stone, rock” (ܟܐܦܐ).
Borrowed from Latin Cēphās, from Ancient Greek Κηφᾶς (Kēphâs), from Aramaic כֵּיפָא/Classical Syriac ܟܐܦܐ (kēp̄ā, “stone, rock”).
/ˈsi.fəs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cephas?
#5,069 among boys’ names, 2025
Cephas rose from #6,737 in 2015 to #5,069 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 6.3 to 11.1 per million.
23 babies in 1921, the peak
Cephas peaked in 1921, when 23 boys were given it, #1,594 among boys’ names. The 19 births of 2025 are 83% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 | #5,069 | 11.1 |
| 2024 | 9 | #8,432 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 13 | #6,602 | 7.6 |
| 2021 | 12 | #6,773 | 6.9 |
| 2020 | 14 | #6,026 | 8.1 |
| 2019 | 14 | #6,150 | 7.8 |
| 2018 | 13 | #6,405 | 7.2 |
| 2017 | 12 | #6,754 | 6.5 |
| 2016 | 10 | #7,688 | 5.3 |
| 2015 | 12 | #6,737 | 6.3 |
Every recorded year (95)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 9 | #8,250 | 4.7 |
| 2012 | 6 | #11,018 | 3.2 |
| 2011 | 11 | #7,084 | 5.8 |
| 2010 | 7 | #9,859 | 3.6 |
| 2009 | 13 | #6,488 | 6.6 |
| 2008 | 10 | #7,784 | 4.9 |
| 2007 | 7 | #9,933 | 3.4 |
| 2005 | 7 | #9,275 | 3.5 |
| 2003 | 9 | #7,319 | 4.6 |
| 2000 | 5 | #10,613 | 2.5 |
| 1996 | 8 | #6,580 | 4.2 |
| 1993 | 8 | #6,291 | 4.1 |
| 1992 | 8 | #6,208 | 4.0 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,310 | 3.5 |
| 1986 | 5 | #6,875 | 2.7 |
| 1985 | 5 | #6,676 | 2.7 |
| 1984 | 7 | #5,046 | 3.9 |
| 1982 | 6 | #5,736 | 3.3 |
| 1981 | 6 | #5,605 | 3.3 |
| 1980 | 9 | #4,187 | 5.0 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,457 | 3.5 |
| 1977 | 7 | #4,657 | 4.3 |
| 1976 | 5 | #5,725 | 3.2 |
| 1975 | 5 | #5,583 | 3.2 |
| 1974 | 9 | #3,600 | 5.7 |
| 1973 | 7 | #4,124 | 4.5 |
| 1972 | 7 | #4,031 | 4.3 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,404 | 5.1 |
| 1969 | 6 | #4,009 | 3.4 |
| 1967 | 5 | #4,045 | 2.9 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,581 | 3.4 |
| 1963 | 7 | #3,359 | 3.4 |
| 1962 | 10 | #2,695 | 4.8 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,382 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,071 | 3.7 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,318 | 3.3 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,620 | 2.8 |
| 1956 | 13 | #2,284 | 6.1 |
| 1955 | 8 | #3,003 | 3.9 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,501 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 8 | #2,940 | 4.1 |
| 1952 | 8 | #2,907 | 4.1 |
| 1951 | 8 | #2,871 | 4.2 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,457 | 5.6 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,359 | 3.4 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,343 | 6.3 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,686 | 4.9 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,421 | 6.2 |
| 1945 | 8 | #2,592 | 5.9 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,158 | 4.4 |
| 1943 | 6 | #3,273 | 4.2 |
| 1942 | 14 | #1,959 | 10.1 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,366 | 8.1 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,201 | 9.5 |
| 1939 | 13 | #1,973 | 11.7 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,226 | 5.4 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,348 | 9.4 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,202 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,147 | 11.5 |
| 1934 | 14 | #1,947 | 13.6 |
| 1933 | 8 | #2,778 | 8.1 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,112 | 12.5 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,115 | 12.5 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,200 | 11.8 |
| 1929 | 9 | #2,798 | 8.4 |
| 1928 | 16 | #1,974 | 14.4 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,204 | 7.1 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,213 | 12.6 |
| 1925 | 18 | #1,880 | 16.1 |
| 1924 | 18 | #1,903 | 15.9 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,469 | 10.9 |
| 1922 | 18 | #1,900 | 16.5 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,594 | 20.9 |
| 1920 | 19 | #1,831 | 17.9 |
| 1919 | 17 | #1,889 | 17.3 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,084 | 14.8 |
| 1917 | 17 | #1,827 | 18.4 |
| 1916 | 17 | #1,781 | 19.1 |
| 1915 | 14 | #1,988 | 16.5 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,691 | 10.7 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,307 | 13.7 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,324 | 14.0 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,262 | 37.8 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,188 | 39.9 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,025 | 48.9 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Cephas a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cephas has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 95 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Cephas: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cephas, and how old are they?
An estimated 463 Americans named Cephas and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (50% of everyone recorded); the median is 34 years old and half are between 11 and 64. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 580 people named Cephas (3 women and girls, 577 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 449 born in the U.S. The Census count is 29% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,939 babies since 1880, Cephas is the second most given (48% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Cephas
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Cephas and names like it
- Compare Cephas and CephusBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sCephas peaked in 1921.
- Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cephas since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Cephas.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Cephas alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.