Cy
Cy was given to 52 boys in 2025, #2,540 among boys’ names; 3,921 Americans have been recorded with it since 1902 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,470 Americans named Cy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 14 and 39.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cy is “a diminutive of the male given name Cyril.”
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Cyrus.”
/saɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cy?
#2,540 among boys’ names, 2025
Cy fell from #2,215 in 2015 to #2,540 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 31.8 to 30.4 per million.
117 babies in 2010, the peak
Cy peaked in 2010, when 117 boys were given it, #1,416 among boys’ names. The 52 births of 2025 are 44% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 52 | #2,540 | 30.4 |
| 2024 | 60 | #2,351 | 34.8 |
| 2023 | 75 | #2,014 | 43.8 |
| 2022 | 58 | #2,415 | 33.2 |
| 2021 | 45 | #2,784 | 25.7 |
| 2020 | 65 | #2,144 | 37.7 |
| 2019 | 72 | #2,022 | 40.1 |
| 2018 | 68 | #2,085 | 37.4 |
| 2017 | 45 | #2,720 | 24.3 |
| 2016 | 62 | #2,186 | 32.7 |
Every recorded year (112)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 61 | #2,215 | 31.8 |
| 2014 | 71 | #2,005 | 37.0 |
| 2013 | 99 | #1,572 | 52.3 |
| 2012 | 109 | #1,479 | 57.5 |
| 2011 | 99 | #1,573 | 52.1 |
| 2010 | 117 | #1,416 | 61.0 |
| 2009 | 99 | #1,606 | 49.9 |
| 2008 | 104 | #1,545 | 51.0 |
| 2007 | 113 | #1,434 | 54.4 |
| 2006 | 105 | #1,461 | 51.1 |
| 2005 | 106 | #1,402 | 53.1 |
| 2004 | 88 | #1,517 | 44.3 |
| 2003 | 68 | #1,765 | 34.4 |
| 2002 | 55 | #1,999 | 28.3 |
| 2001 | 74 | #1,599 | 38.1 |
| 2000 | 80 | #1,500 | 40.7 |
| 1999 | 71 | #1,557 | 37.0 |
| 1998 | 61 | #1,679 | 31.9 |
| 1997 | 45 | #1,995 | 23.9 |
| 1996 | 46 | #1,934 | 24.3 |
| 1995 | 52 | #1,707 | 27.3 |
| 1994 | 48 | #1,796 | 24.8 |
| 1993 | 48 | #1,767 | 24.5 |
| 1992 | 44 | #1,846 | 22.0 |
| 1991 | 46 | #1,744 | 22.8 |
| 1990 | 40 | #1,904 | 19.5 |
| 1989 | 35 | #2,033 | 17.5 |
| 1988 | 24 | #2,446 | 12.5 |
| 1987 | 29 | #2,062 | 15.5 |
| 1986 | 38 | #1,664 | 20.6 |
| 1985 | 32 | #1,840 | 17.3 |
| 1984 | 27 | #1,987 | 15.0 |
| 1983 | 38 | #1,566 | 21.2 |
| 1982 | 40 | #1,543 | 22.0 |
| 1981 | 45 | #1,413 | 25.1 |
| 1980 | 38 | #1,576 | 21.3 |
| 1979 | 34 | #1,680 | 19.7 |
| 1978 | 27 | #1,876 | 16.4 |
| 1977 | 34 | #1,614 | 20.7 |
| 1976 | 38 | #1,455 | 24.2 |
| 1975 | 37 | #1,459 | 23.7 |
| 1974 | 33 | #1,522 | 21.0 |
| 1973 | 30 | #1,590 | 19.2 |
| 1972 | 27 | #1,689 | 16.7 |
| 1971 | 19 | #2,138 | 10.7 |
| 1970 | 21 | #1,947 | 11.3 |
| 1969 | 15 | #2,234 | 8.4 |
| 1968 | 18 | #1,905 | 10.4 |
| 1967 | 14 | #2,162 | 8.0 |
| 1966 | 21 | #1,688 | 11.8 |
| 1965 | 17 | #1,935 | 9.1 |
| 1964 | 21 | #1,746 | 10.5 |
| 1963 | 22 | #1,705 | 10.8 |
| 1962 | 23 | #1,675 | 11.1 |
| 1961 | 22 | #1,741 | 10.4 |
| 1960 | 23 | #1,698 | 10.8 |
| 1959 | 20 | #1,814 | 9.4 |
| 1958 | 11 | #2,532 | 5.2 |
| 1957 | 21 | #1,762 | 9.7 |
| 1956 | 25 | #1,574 | 11.8 |
| 1955 | 32 | #1,345 | 15.5 |
| 1954 | 27 | #1,468 | 13.2 |
| 1953 | 20 | #1,721 | 10.1 |
| 1952 | 21 | #1,671 | 10.8 |
| 1951 | 15 | #1,994 | 8.0 |
| 1950 | 19 | #1,709 | 10.6 |
| 1949 | 11 | #2,365 | 6.2 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,384 | 3.4 |
| 1947 | 15 | #2,004 | 8.2 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,433 | 6.2 |
| 1945 | 9 | #2,428 | 6.7 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,677 | 5.9 |
| 1943 | 5 | #3,647 | 3.5 |
| 1942 | 7 | #2,988 | 5.1 |
| 1941 | 7 | #2,926 | 5.7 |
| 1939 | 7 | #2,884 | 6.3 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,689 | 7.2 |
| 1936 | 7 | #2,932 | 6.7 |
| 1935 | 5 | #3,775 | 4.8 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,297 | 10.7 |
| 1932 | 8 | #2,896 | 7.7 |
| 1931 | 8 | #2,905 | 7.7 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,358 | 6.4 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,636 | 5.6 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,130 | 7.2 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,190 | 7.2 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,074 | 7.9 |
| 1923 | 9 | #2,991 | 8.2 |
| 1922 | 13 | #2,366 | 11.9 |
| 1921 | 5 | #4,487 | 4.5 |
| 1920 | 5 | #4,443 | 4.7 |
| 1919 | 10 | #2,716 | 10.2 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,580 | 10.9 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,107 | 5.4 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,588 | 11.2 |
| 1915 | 16 | #1,805 | 18.9 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,712 | 10.7 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,560 | 11.7 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,547 | 25.6 |
| 1911 | 5 | #1,797 | 22.1 |
| 1907 | 5 | #1,387 | 34.1 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,036 | 48.9 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Cy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cy has been given almost only to boys: 23 girls in 112 years of records.
Girls and boys named Cy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cy, and how old are they?
3,470 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 3,921 Americans ever recorded as Cy. The median Cy alive today is 22 years old; half are between 14 and 39.
The 2020 Census counted 3,403 people named Cy (170 women and girls, 3,233 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,203 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 22 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 247 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 377 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 601 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,380 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 840 |
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 Cy born?
The states with the most babies named Cy are New York, Texas and California, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 12 | #1,004 | 0.3× |
| Texas | 6 | #2,335 | 0.7× |
| California | 5 | #2,544 | 0.7× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Cy 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 12,613 babies since 1880, Cy is the second most given (31% of them). In 2025 it was given to 52 of their 232 babies (22%), again the second 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 Cy
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 Cy and names like it
- Compare Cy and KyeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sCy peaked in 2010.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cy since 1910.
- The top names of 2010The year the most babies were named Cy.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Cy alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with CMost given first.