Chaka
Chaka was last recorded in 2001, when 6 babies were given it; 1,103 Americans have been recorded with it between 1968 and 2001 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,040 Americans named Chaka and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 48 years old and half are between 44 and 50.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Chaka by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Chaka?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #11,743, in 1991; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
167 babies in 1976, the peak
Chaka peaked in 1976, when 167 babies were given it (147 girls, #899 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | under 5 | 6 | #9,442 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 5 | #10,616 | |
| 1999 | under 5 | 5 | #10,141 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 5 | #8,997 | |
| 1993 | under 5 | 5 | #8,909 | |
| 1991 | 6 | #11,743 | 5 | #8,378 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,401 | 9 | #5,439 |
| 1989 | 16 | #5,329 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 5 | #12,109 | 5 | #7,444 |
| 1987 | 18 | #4,493 | 5 | #7,106 |
Every recorded year (29)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 13 | #5,487 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 48 | #2,177 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 30 | #2,927 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 33 | #2,668 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 38 | #2,499 | 5 | #6,512 |
| 1981 | 45 | #2,235 | 6 | #5,607 |
| 1980 | 62 | #1,769 | 8 | #4,557 |
| 1979 | 70 | #1,609 | 8 | #4,466 |
| 1978 | 80 | #1,436 | 9 | #3,904 |
| 1977 | 87 | #1,326 | 16 | #2,676 |
| 1976 | 147 | #899 | 20 | #2,253 |
| 1975 | 120 | #1,008 | 18 | #2,378 |
| 1974 | 15 | #4,059 | 18 | #2,288 |
| 1973 | under 5 | 18 | #2,232 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 27 | #1,683 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 22 | #1,925 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 20 | #2,003 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 11 | #2,710 | |
| 1968 | under 5 | 6 | #3,743 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Chaka a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,103 Americans recorded as Chaka, 76% are girls and 24% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Chaka: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Chaka, and how old are they?
1,040 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,103 Americans ever recorded as Chaka. The median Chaka alive today is 48 years old; half are between 44 and 50.
The 2020 Census counted 972 people named Chaka (706 women and girls, 266 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,056 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 731 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 294 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 16 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 1,262 babies since 1880, Chaka is the most given (87% 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 Chaka
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1960-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Shanon | 6,549 |
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 Chaka and names like it
- Compare Chaka and ChakiaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sChaka peaked in 1976.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Chaka since 1910.
- The top names of 1976The year the most babies were named Chaka.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Chaka alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with CMost given first.