Cher
Cher was last recorded in 2024, when 6 babies were given it; 1,831 Americans have been recorded with it between 1948 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,680 Americans named Cher and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 53 years old and half are between 48 and 56.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cher by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cher mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cher is “a short form of the female given name Cherilyn, popularized as a given name by the singer Cher.”
/ʃɛɹ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cher?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,835, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
235 babies in 1972, the peak
Cher peaked in 1972, when 235 girls were given it, #651 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 6 | #13,835 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 8 | #11,300 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 8 | #11,585 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 5 | #16,195 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 5 | #16,384 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 5 | #17,120 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 6 | #14,539 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,642 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 14 | #7,243 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 12 | #7,815 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (57)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 8 | #10,302 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,079 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 5 | #13,927 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 5 | #13,844 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 7 | #10,696 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,079 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 19 | #4,898 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 18 | #4,894 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 19 | #4,513 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 13 | #5,652 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 16 | #4,764 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,090 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 12 | #5,596 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 13 | #5,198 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 14 | #4,978 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 15 | #4,772 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 26 | #3,233 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 24 | #3,354 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 18 | #3,941 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 32 | #2,618 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 69 | #1,500 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 123 | #995 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 103 | #1,127 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 178 | #760 | 0.12 |
| 1972 | 235 | #651 | 0.15 |
| 1971 | 110 | #1,093 | 0.07 |
| 1970 | 72 | #1,435 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 45 | #1,839 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 37 | #1,980 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 43 | #1,754 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 32 | #2,065 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 18 | #2,949 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 12 | #3,832 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,373 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 13 | #3,626 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 27 | #2,251 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 20 | #2,603 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 33 | #1,911 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 26 | #2,175 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 24 | #2,260 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 36 | #1,739 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 23 | #2,249 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 24 | #2,131 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 13 | #3,058 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 12 | #3,129 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 10 | #3,456 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,348 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cher a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,831 Americans recorded as Cher, 94% are girls and 6% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Cher: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cher, and how old are they?
1,680 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 1,831 Americans ever recorded as Cher. The median Cher alive today is 53 years old; half are between 48 and 56.
The 2020 Census counted 2,603 people named Cher (2,104 women and girls, 499 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,712 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Cher rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 228 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 276 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 56 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 37 |
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).
Where are babies named Cher born?
The states with the most babies named Cher are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 51% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 213 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New York | 55 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 48 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 44 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Texas | 38 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 37 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Louisiana | 34 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 28 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Indiana | 16 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 14 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Cher is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cher is most over-represented in California: since 1948 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Cher with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Cher
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 Cher and names like it
- Compare Cher and WindyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sCher peaked in 1972.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cher since 1910.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Cher.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Cher alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with CMost given first.