Cyril
Cyril was given to 38 boys in 2025, #3,142 among boys’ names; 12,131 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,040 Americans named Cyril and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (33% of everyone recorded); the median is 48 years old and half are between 24 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cyril by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cyril mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cyril is “a male given name from Ancient Greek; best known for a ninth century missionary to the Slavs.” Its etymology gives the sense “lord, master” (κύριος).
Via Late Latin Cȳrillus, from Ancient Greek Κύριλλος (Kúrillos), from κύριος (kúrios, “lord, master”).
/ˈsɪɹəl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cyril?
#3,142 among boys’ names, 2025
Cyril fell from #2,818 in 2015 to #3,142 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 21.9 to 22.2 per million.
338 babies in 1916, the peak
Cyril peaked in 1916, when 338 babies were given it (328 boys, #283 among boys’ names). The 38 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 38 | #3,142 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 41 | #3,004 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 36 | #3,304 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 44 | #2,880 | 0.03 |
| 2021 | 50 | #2,593 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 41 | #2,891 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 41 | #2,952 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 61 | #2,239 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 28 | #3,790 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 42 | #2,841 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (143)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 42 | #2,818 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 45 | #2,671 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 44 | #2,675 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 42 | #2,825 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 41 | #2,862 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 46 | #2,642 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 40 | #2,958 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 48 | #2,592 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 42 | #2,822 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 47 | #2,546 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 44 | #2,531 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 44 | #2,493 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 39 | #2,580 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 41 | #2,430 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 50 | #2,087 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 52 | #1,967 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 42 | #2,201 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 34 | #2,508 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 34 | #2,405 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 24 | #3,038 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 44 | #1,916 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 41 | #2,017 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 53 | #1,659 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 47 | #1,780 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 53 | #1,587 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 49 | #1,660 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 37 | #1,953 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 39 | #1,768 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 49 | #1,468 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 38 | #1,665 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 41 | #1,572 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 48 | #1,367 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 41 | #1,494 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 57 | #1,232 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 63 | #1,158 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 36 | #1,628 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 38 | #1,538 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 47 | #1,331 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 44 | #1,374 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 47 | #1,288 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 48 | #1,232 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 37 | #1,417 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 50 | #1,167 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 53 | #1,122 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 48 | #1,186 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 55 | #1,103 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 53 | #1,069 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 47 | #1,085 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 49 | #1,044 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 56 | #971 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 59 | #957 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 57 | #1,002 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 64 | #937 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 79 | #849 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 73 | #897 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 76 | #869 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 72 | #904 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 86 | #809 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 85 | #818 | 0.04 |
| 1956 | 91 | #778 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 78 | #829 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 92 | #744 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 84 | #774 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 87 | #756 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 88 | #740 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 82 | #757 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 101 | #680 | 0.06 |
| 1948 | 87 | #717 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 104 | #677 | 0.06 |
| 1946 | 92 | #674 | 0.06 |
| 1945 | 89 | #642 | 0.07 |
| 1944 | 94 | #634 | 0.07 |
| 1943 | 115 | #592 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 130 | #536 | 0.09 |
| 1941 | 108 | #571 | 0.09 |
| 1940 | 121 | #532 | 0.10 |
| 1939 | 108 | #552 | 0.10 |
| 1938 | 91 | #623 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 118 | #533 | 0.11 |
| 1936 | 132 | #494 | 0.13 |
| 1935 | 129 | #505 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 149 | #460 | 0.14 |
| 1933 | 151 | #449 | 0.15 |
| 1932 | 158 | #449 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 176 | #428 | 0.17 |
| 1930 | 211 | #398 | 0.19 |
| 1929 | 197 | #420 | 0.18 |
| 1928 | 234 | #384 | 0.21 |
| 1927 | 265 | #359 | 0.24 |
| 1926 | 264 | #362 | 0.24 |
| 1925 | 267 | #364 | 0.24 |
| 1924 | 282 | #353 | 0.25 |
| 1923 | 260 | #368 | 0.24 |
| 1922 | 299 | #340 | 0.27 |
| 1921 | 328 | #323 | 0.30 |
| 1920 | 277 | #355 | 0.26 |
| 1919 | 304 | #320 | 0.31 |
| 1918 | 312 | #322 | 0.31 |
| 1917 | 307 | #302 | 0.33 |
| 1916 | 328 | #283 | 0.37 |
| 1915 | 273 | #310 | 0.32 |
| 1914 | 232 | #294 | 0.35 |
| 1913 | 172 | #302 | 0.34 |
| 1912 | 146 | #297 | 0.34 |
| 1911 | 75 | #312 | 0.33 |
| 1910 | 60 | #319 | 0.31 |
| 1909 | 48 | #335 | 0.29 |
| 1908 | 45 | #337 | 0.29 |
| 1907 | 46 | #313 | 0.31 |
| 1906 | 45 | #306 | 0.34 |
| 1905 | 38 | #325 | 0.29 |
| 1904 | 40 | #314 | 0.31 |
| 1903 | 42 | #293 | 0.35 |
| 1902 | 50 | #263 | 0.41 |
| 1901 | 34 | #305 | 0.32 |
| 1900 | 41 | #339 | 0.27 |
| 1899 | 39 | #278 | 0.37 |
| 1898 | 27 | #380 | 0.22 |
| 1897 | 36 | #306 | 0.32 |
| 1896 | 37 | #306 | 0.31 |
| 1895 | 21 | #429 | 0.18 |
| 1894 | 28 | #338 | 0.24 |
| 1893 | 28 | #335 | 0.25 |
| 1892 | 31 | #338 | 0.25 |
| 1891 | 10 | #611 | 0.10 |
| 1890 | 16 | #463 | 0.14 |
| 1889 | 12 | #561 | 0.11 |
| 1888 | 10 | #660 | 0.08 |
| 1887 | 11 | #554 | 0.11 |
| 1885 | 12 | #555 | 0.11 |
| 1884 | 5 | #1,003 | 0.04 |
| 1883 | 7 | #739 | 0.07 |
| 1880 | 5 | #941 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Cyril a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cyril has been given almost only to boys: 97 girls in 143 years of records.
Girls and boys named Cyril: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cyril, and how old are they?
4,040 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 33% of the 12,131 Americans ever recorded as Cyril. The median Cyril alive today is 48 years old; half are between 24 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 6,144 people named Cyril (193 women and girls, 5,951 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,420 born in the U.S. The Census count is 39% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 407 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,030 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 679 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 692 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 675 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 549 |
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 Cyril born?
The states with the most babies named Cyril are Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 1,097 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| New York | 956 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 536 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 528 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Minnesota | 525 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Wisconsin | 523 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| California | 431 | #2,253 | 0.6× |
| Louisiana | 393 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Michigan | 348 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Iowa | 256 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Cyril is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cyril is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 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 Cyril 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 12,400 babies since 1880, Cyril is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 38 of their 43 babies (88%), 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 Cyril
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 Cyril and names like it
- Compare Cyril and KirilBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sCyril peaked in 1916.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cyril since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Cyril: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Cyril.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Cyril alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.