Cheri
Cheri was given to 6 girls in 2025, #13,551 among girls’ names; 36,080 Americans have been recorded with it since 1925 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 30,800 Americans named Cheri and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 60 years old and half are between 53 and 68.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cheri by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cheri mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cheri is “a female given name originating as a coinage.” Its etymology gives the sense “darling” (chérie).
A variant of Sherry or coined from French chéri, chérie (“darling”), not used as a given name in France.
/ʃəˈɹiː/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cheri?
#13,551 among girls’ names, 2025
Cheri fell from #8,557 in 2015 to #13,551 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 7.3 to 3.7 per million.
1,410 babies in 1960, the peak
Cheri peaked in 1960, when 1,410 girls were given it, #227 among girls’ names. The 6 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #13,551 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,444 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 7 | #12,411 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 6 | #13,841 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 7 | #12,718 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 7 | #12,758 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 10 | #10,120 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 13 | #8,557 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 12 | #9,098 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 9 | #11,207 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (96)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 11 | #9,861 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 10 | #10,555 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 12 | #9,353 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 14 | #8,535 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 14 | #8,625 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 19 | #6,880 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 15 | #7,954 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 16 | #7,212 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 15 | #7,467 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 15 | #7,286 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,763 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 18 | #6,116 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 29 | #4,206 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 35 | #3,516 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 33 | #3,584 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 31 | #3,639 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 39 | #3,038 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 49 | #2,556 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 57 | #2,291 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 78 | #1,838 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 101 | #1,536 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 120 | #1,356 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 138 | #1,215 | 0.07 |
| 1989 | 181 | #958 | 0.10 |
| 1988 | 200 | #880 | 0.11 |
| 1987 | 222 | #791 | 0.13 |
| 1986 | 297 | #625 | 0.17 |
| 1985 | 292 | #638 | 0.17 |
| 1984 | 335 | #557 | 0.20 |
| 1983 | 309 | #579 | 0.18 |
| 1982 | 359 | #540 | 0.21 |
| 1981 | 395 | #506 | 0.24 |
| 1980 | 444 | #476 | 0.27 |
| 1979 | 454 | #450 | 0.28 |
| 1978 | 496 | #411 | 0.32 |
| 1977 | 499 | #410 | 0.33 |
| 1976 | 580 | #363 | 0.40 |
| 1975 | 733 | #310 | 0.50 |
| 1974 | 807 | #297 | 0.55 |
| 1973 | 936 | #266 | 0.64 |
| 1972 | 995 | #265 | 0.65 |
| 1971 | 1,084 | #265 | 0.65 |
| 1970 | 1,179 | #260 | 0.67 |
| 1969 | 1,148 | #255 | 0.68 |
| 1968 | 1,232 | #235 | 0.75 |
| 1967 | 1,305 | #225 | 0.79 |
| 1966 | 1,078 | #257 | 0.64 |
| 1965 | 876 | #304 | 0.50 |
| 1964 | 1,003 | #289 | 0.53 |
| 1963 | 1,167 | #257 | 0.61 |
| 1962 | 1,397 | #229 | 0.71 |
| 1961 | 1,314 | #239 | 0.65 |
| 1960 | 1,410 | #227 | 0.70 |
| 1959 | 1,336 | #237 | 0.66 |
| 1958 | 1,203 | #249 | 0.60 |
| 1957 | 1,112 | #257 | 0.54 |
| 1956 | 1,047 | #262 | 0.52 |
| 1955 | 933 | #282 | 0.48 |
| 1954 | 810 | #299 | 0.42 |
| 1953 | 820 | #291 | 0.44 |
| 1952 | 686 | #308 | 0.37 |
| 1951 | 596 | #326 | 0.33 |
| 1950 | 544 | #330 | 0.32 |
| 1949 | 516 | #340 | 0.30 |
| 1948 | 546 | #333 | 0.32 |
| 1947 | 731 | #287 | 0.41 |
| 1946 | 591 | #304 | 0.38 |
| 1945 | 219 | #491 | 0.17 |
| 1944 | 187 | #531 | 0.14 |
| 1943 | 117 | #710 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 83 | #835 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 55 | #987 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 36 | #1,222 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 27 | #1,431 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,603 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 24 | #1,542 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 29 | #1,349 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 22 | #1,614 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 8 | #3,201 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,714 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,383 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 9 | #3,010 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 16 | #2,121 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,678 | under 0.01 |
| 1928 | 9 | #3,206 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 7 | #4,090 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cheri a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cheri has been given almost only to girls: 12 boys in 96 years of records.
Girls and boys named Cheri: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cheri, and how old are they?
30,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 36,080 Americans ever recorded as Cheri. The median Cheri alive today is 60 years old; half are between 53 and 68.
The 2020 Census counted 30,101 people named Cheri (30,076 women and girls, 25 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 32,339 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 418 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 14,100 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 12,800 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,070 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 299 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 85 |
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 Cheri born?
The states with the most babies named Cheri are California, Ohio and Illinois, with 26% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 4,672 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 1,961 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 1,949 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 1,943 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Texas | 1,759 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Washington | 1,416 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| New York | 1,412 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,345 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 1,096 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Missouri | 1,096 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Cheri is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cheri is most over-represented in Washington: since 1925 it was given 2.4 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 Cheri with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 90,218 babies since 1880, Cheri is the most given (40% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6 of their 60 babies (10%), the third most given that year.
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 Cheri
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 Cheri and names like it
- Compare Cheri and CherieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sCheri peaked in 1960.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cheri since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Cheri: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Cheri.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Cheri alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.