Cherokee
Cherokee was given to 6 girls in 2025, #13,552 among girls’ names; 2,909 Americans have been recorded with it since 1920 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,830 Americans named Cherokee and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 22 and 33.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cherokee by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Cherokee?
#13,552 among girls’ names, 2025
Cherokee fell from #4,615 in 2015 to #13,552 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 16.8 to 3.7 per million.
174 babies in 1995, the peak
Cherokee peaked in 1995, when 174 babies were given it (134 girls, #1,259 among girls’ names). The 6 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #13,552 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 13 | #8,051 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 16 | #6,994 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,129 | under 5 | |
| 2021 | 27 | #4,862 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 26 | #4,910 | under 5 | |
| 2019 | 20 | #6,024 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 33 | #4,254 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 31 | #4,501 | 5 | #12,623 |
| 2016 | 44 | #3,534 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 30 | #4,615 | 5 | #12,400 |
| 2014 | 30 | #4,679 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 19 | #6,520 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 30 | #4,740 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 39 | #3,853 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 26 | #5,271 | 7 | #9,866 |
| 2009 | 25 | #5,573 | 6 | #11,235 |
| 2008 | 40 | #3,950 | 7 | #10,037 |
| 2007 | 42 | #3,799 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 51 | #3,230 | 5 | #12,355 |
| 2005 | 54 | #2,970 | 7 | #9,283 |
| 2004 | 82 | #2,176 | 6 | #10,172 |
| 2003 | 82 | #2,127 | 11 | #6,318 |
| 2002 | 89 | #1,967 | 13 | #5,444 |
| 2001 | 91 | #1,901 | 17 | #4,504 |
| 2000 | 118 | #1,532 | 19 | #4,076 |
| 1999 | 122 | #1,431 | 18 | #4,002 |
| 1998 | 143 | #1,263 | 19 | #3,721 |
| 1997 | 126 | #1,361 | 27 | #2,830 |
| 1996 | 135 | #1,277 | 23 | #3,118 |
| 1995 | 134 | #1,259 | 40 | #2,054 |
| 1994 | 124 | #1,345 | 37 | #2,181 |
| 1993 | 92 | #1,640 | 18 | #3,517 |
| 1992 | 89 | #1,687 | 10 | #5,285 |
| 1991 | 62 | #2,131 | 8 | #6,031 |
| 1990 | 40 | #2,859 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 42 | #2,663 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 24 | #3,812 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 12 | #5,983 | 7 | #5,577 |
| 1986 | 34 | #2,789 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 20 | #4,004 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 15 | #4,774 | 5 | #6,466 |
| 1983 | 14 | #4,924 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 10 | #6,439 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 14 | #5,014 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 14 | #5,020 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 13 | #5,142 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 20 | #3,653 | 6 | #5,160 |
| 1977 | 22 | #3,391 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 23 | #3,110 | 6 | #5,025 |
| 1975 | 18 | #3,656 | 5 | #5,598 |
| 1974 | 14 | #4,263 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 13 | #4,401 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 17 | #3,571 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 7 | #6,717 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 10 | #4,764 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 5 | #6,912 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 6 | #5,982 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 5 | #6,388 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 9 | #4,255 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 8 | #4,517 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 7 | #4,811 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 7 | #4,560 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,346 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,354 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,727 | under 5 | |
| 1922 | 5 | #5,138 | under 5 | |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,104 | under 5 |
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 Cherokee a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,909 Americans recorded as Cherokee, 88% are girls and 12% boys. In 2025 it went to 6 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Cherokee: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cherokee, and how old are they?
2,830 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 2,909 Americans ever recorded as Cherokee. The median Cherokee alive today is 28 years old; half are between 22 and 33.
The 2020 Census counted 2,337 people named Cherokee (2,004 women and girls, 333 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,754 born in the U.S. The Census count is 15% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 45 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 177 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 984 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,300 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 316 |
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 Cherokee born?
The states with the most babies named Cherokee are Oklahoma, Ohio and California, with 48% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 225 | not ranked | 5.9× |
| Ohio | 125 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| California | 111 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Texas | 100 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Indiana | 52 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 46 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Michigan | 40 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Missouri | 37 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 36 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Illinois | 33 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Cherokee is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cherokee is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1920 it was given 5.9 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 Cherokee 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 Cherokee
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1920-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Destine | 1,421 |
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 Cherokee and names like it
- Compare Cherokee and DestineBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sCherokee peaked in 1995.
- Oklahoma’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cherokee since 1910.
- The top names of 1995The year the most babies were named Cherokee.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Cherokee alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with CMost given first.