Cheryl
Cheryl was given to 32 girls in 2025, #4,375 among girls’ names; 440,517 Americans have been recorded with it since 1909 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 356,000 Americans named Cheryl and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (81% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 60 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cheryl by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cheryl mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cheryl is “a female given name originating as a coinage.”
Coined in the early 20th century, possibly a blend of Cherie or Cherry and Beryl.
/ˈʃɛɹəl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cheryl?
#4,375 among girls’ names, 2025
Cheryl fell from #3,035 in 2015 to #4,375 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 31.4 to 19.9 per million.
24,178 babies in 1958, the peak
Cheryl peaked in 1958, when 24,178 babies were given it (24,119 girls, #13 among girls’ names). The 32 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 32 | #4,375 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 37 | #3,979 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 31 | #4,477 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 44 | #3,546 | 0.03 |
| 2021 | 49 | #3,259 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 30 | #4,470 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 41 | #3,676 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 57 | #2,915 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 56 | #2,936 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 73 | #2,488 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (113)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 56 | #3,035 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 58 | #2,934 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 55 | #3,012 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 72 | #2,520 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 65 | #2,700 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 79 | #2,390 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 64 | #2,787 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 91 | #2,188 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 86 | #2,257 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 87 | #2,210 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 103 | #1,880 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 116 | #1,668 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 115 | #1,667 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 104 | #1,744 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 143 | #1,341 | 0.08 |
| 2000 | 127 | #1,447 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 173 | #1,131 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 165 | #1,143 | 0.09 |
| 1997 | 198 | #985 | 0.11 |
| 1996 | 250 | #813 | 0.14 |
| 1995 | 255 | #779 | 0.15 |
| 1994 | 307 | #685 | 0.17 |
| 1993 | 374 | #612 | 0.21 |
| 1992 | 441 | #534 | 0.24 |
| 1991 | 539 | #457 | 0.29 |
| 1990 | 615 | #415 | 0.32 |
| 1989 | 731 | #351 | 0.40 |
| 1988 | 889 | #280 | 0.50 |
| 1987 | 959 | #263 | 0.55 |
| 1986 | 1,031 | #251 | 0.60 |
| 1985 | 1,224 | #209 | 0.71 |
| 1984 | 1,323 | #202 | 0.79 |
| 1983 | 1,562 | #176 | 0.93 |
| 1982 | 1,875 | #159 | 1.1 |
| 1981 | 2,116 | #134 | 1.3 |
| 1980 | 2,609 | #119 | 1.6 |
| 1979 | 3,210 | #94 | 2.0 |
| 1978 | 3,167 | #94 | 2.1 |
| 1977 | 2,121 | #135 | 1.4 |
| 1976 | 2,489 | #105 | 1.7 |
| 1975 | 2,997 | #97 | 2.1 |
| 1974 | 3,496 | #88 | 2.4 |
| 1973 | 4,010 | #74 | 2.7 |
| 1972 | 5,136 | #56 | 3.4 |
| 1971 | 6,327 | #50 | 3.8 |
| 1970 | 7,440 | #44 | 4.3 |
| 1969 | 8,346 | #41 | 4.9 |
| 1968 | 9,138 | #37 | 5.6 |
| 1967 | 10,767 | #35 | 6.5 |
| 1966 | 11,713 | #34 | 6.9 |
| 1965 | 12,550 | #31 | 7.1 |
| 1964 | 14,081 | #29 | 7.4 |
| 1963 | 15,047 | #24 | 7.8 |
| 1962 | 16,587 | #24 | 8.4 |
| 1961 | 18,301 | #20 | 9.1 |
| 1960 | 19,120 | #17 | 9.5 |
| 1959 | 20,947 | #18 | 10.4 |
| 1958 | 24,119 | #13 | 12.0 |
| 1957 | 22,643 | #16 | 11.1 |
| 1956 | 21,278 | #18 | 10.6 |
| 1955 | 19,111 | #19 | 9.8 |
| 1954 | 15,015 | #22 | 7.7 |
| 1953 | 12,264 | #28 | 6.5 |
| 1952 | 12,201 | #31 | 6.6 |
| 1951 | 11,986 | #30 | 6.7 |
| 1950 | 11,823 | #29 | 6.9 |
| 1949 | 12,007 | #28 | 7.0 |
| 1948 | 13,220 | #25 | 7.8 |
| 1947 | 13,890 | #24 | 7.8 |
| 1946 | 11,526 | #27 | 7.3 |
| 1945 | 8,149 | #32 | 6.2 |
| 1944 | 7,972 | #36 | 6.0 |
| 1943 | 2,878 | #102 | 2.1 |
| 1942 | 591 | #280 | 0.44 |
| 1941 | 442 | #309 | 0.37 |
| 1940 | 284 | #410 | 0.25 |
| 1939 | 289 | #390 | 0.26 |
| 1938 | 397 | #312 | 0.36 |
| 1937 | 145 | #563 | 0.14 |
| 1936 | 94 | #688 | 0.09 |
| 1935 | 99 | #668 | 0.09 |
| 1934 | 76 | #768 | 0.07 |
| 1933 | 60 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1932 | 49 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 49 | #999 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 42 | #1,145 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 44 | #1,108 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 46 | #1,116 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 32 | #1,427 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 26 | #1,630 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 21 | #1,901 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 22 | #1,882 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 28 | #1,562 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 18 | #2,129 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 18 | #2,137 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 13 | #2,614 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 12 | #2,666 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 16 | #2,218 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,660 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 8 | #3,310 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,942 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,041 | 0.01 |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,265 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cheryl a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cheryl has been given almost only to girls: 978 boys in 113 years of records.
Girls and boys named Cheryl: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cheryl, and how old are they?
356,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 81% of the 440,517 Americans ever recorded as Cheryl. The median Cheryl alive today is 67 years old; half are between 60 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 372,341 people named Cheryl (372,084 women and girls, 257 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 381,481 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 11,700 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 240,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 87,700 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 14,100 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,770 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 615 |
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 Cheryl born?
The states with the most babies named Cheryl are California, New York and Ohio, with 22% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 37,207 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 31,639 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 29,464 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 26,521 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 25,858 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 25,845 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 19,235 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Massachusetts | 17,834 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Indiana | 13,448 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 12,863 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Cheryl is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cheryl is most over-represented in Rhode Island: since 1910 it was given 1.4 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 Cheryl 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 525,095 babies since 1880, Cheryl is the most given (84% of them). In 2025 it was given to 32 of their 45 babies (71%), again the most given.
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 Cheryl
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 Cheryl and names like it
- Compare Cheryl and SherylBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sCheryl peaked in 1958.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cheryl since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Cheryl: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1958The year the most babies were named Cheryl.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Cheryl alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.