Cedar
Masculine · Greek roots · “cedar tree”
Cedar is given to both — 2,629 boys and 1,462 girls since 1880. See Cedar as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Cedar has been an English word since the Middle Ages, carried in from Greek kédros through Latin and Old French, and it has meant the same tree the whole way. As a name it is recent, and it is built like the nature names now widely used — two even syllables closing on the same soft -er that ends River and Asher.
How old is the name Cedar?
Cedar first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Cedar is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,600 people named Cedar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cedar most popular?
Cedar peaked in 2022, reaching #1125 nationally. Today it ranks #1244, 119 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From kédros (Greek) to Cedar
The story of Cedar
This is a word before it is a name. Cedar reached English through Old French from Latin cedrus, itself from Greek kédros, and by the fourteenth century it was ordinary English for the tree and its fragrant, rot-resistant wood. The cedars of Lebanon supplied the timber described in the Hebrew Bible's account of Solomon's temple, which is why the word has carried weight in English writing for centuries before anyone thought to give it to a child. Its use as a first name belongs to the modern American habit of naming children after trees and landscape, and its strongest footing is on the Pacific coast, home of the western red cedar central to the cultures of the Northwest Coast peoples.
Meaning
cedar tree
The English word descends from Greek kédros by way of Latin cedrus and Old French cedre. It covers several different trees: the cedars of Lebanon of the Hebrew Bible, and the western red cedar of the Pacific coast, which is not a true cedar at all.
How the name formed
- kédrosGreek
- cedrusLatin
- cedreOld French
- cedreMiddle English
- Cedar
Pronouncing Cedar
SEE-der
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with leader. No competing pronunciation in American English.
Nicknames for Cedar
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1972
- Most boys named
- 2022188 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1125reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −7.5%160 in 2025, from 173
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cedar in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Washington, California, Oregon.
Cedars among us
people named Cedar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,675 born in 2025 was named Cedar
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jamell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cedar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jamell climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jamell's path sketches the road Cedar is walking now.
Cedar sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cedar is headed
Cedar should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cedar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cedar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An ordinary English word, so the spelling survives phone calls, forms and roll call without needing to be repeated.
- One settled pronunciation everywhere in the US, with the stress in only one possible place.
- Given to both boys and girls, so it does not commit to a single form.
- The word itself has an unbroken written life in English since the Middle Ages, and far longer in Greek and Latin.
- It is a word name, and it belongs to lumber, closet linings, Cedar Rapids and a great many streets. Most people meet the tree first and the person second, and will say so on introduction.
- Rare enough that some will hear it as Cedric, or ask for it twice. That settles quickly, but it happens at every new school and new job.
- Its footing is strongest along the Pacific coast; elsewhere it lands as a newer, less familiar choice, though nothing about it is hard to say or spell.
- Recorded here on the boys' side, it is used for girls too, so paperwork and strangers will occasionally guess wrong in either direction.
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What they receive
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Cedar
Masculine · Greek roots · #1244 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cedars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Cedar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cedar in 2025?
- Cedar ranks #1244 among US boy names in 2025, with 160 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cedar?
- About 1 in every 10,675 US boys born in 2025 was named Cedar — 160 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cedar with classmates?
- Cedar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cedar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Wisdom#1244 · Oakland#1244 · Kole#1244 · Ravi#1244 · Rian#1244 · Jet#1244 · Cory#1244 · Mazi#1241
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cedar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cedar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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