Cherie
Feminine · “darling”
Cherie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 29,969 girls against 26 boys since 1880.
Cherie is the French word for darling, borrowed whole. It is one of the few names in English use that is a term of endearment in its own language rather than a name at all.
How old is the name Cherie?
Cherie first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Cherie alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 26,000 people named Cherie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cherie most popular?
Cherie peaked in 1967, reaching #274 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 8,088 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Where it comes from
From carus to Cherie
The story of Cherie
French words carried a particular polish in mid-century American naming, and terms of endearment were among those borrowed — Cherie, Cheri, Sheree, Chere. The sound also sat beside Cheryl and Sherry, which arrived at the same time from unrelated directions, and the three were heard as a family. Cherie appears in American registers from the 1940s and peaked in the mid-1960s.
Meaning
darling, beloved
From the French chérie, the feminine past participle of chérir, 'to cherish', from the Latin carus, 'dear'. In French it is used as an endearment rather than as a given name, which makes its English career an interesting borrowing.
How the name formed
- carus
- chérir
- chérie
- Cherie
Related forms: Chérie · Cheri · Sheree
Pronouncing Cherie
SHER-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first, in American use. French stresses the second — sheh-REE — and some families follow that.
Nicknames for Cherie
Moderate
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
- 1910
- Most girls named
- 1968892 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #274reached in 1967
- Change vs 2023
- +20.0%12 in 2025, from 10
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.
Cherie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Chérie in French — same name
- Cheri in English — spelling variant
- Sheree in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Cheries among us
people named Cherie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Cherie
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 Lavonne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cherie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lavonne climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lavonne's path sketches the road Cherie is walking now.
Cherie 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
Cherie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cherie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent, warm and needs no explanation to anyone who has met the word.
- It is the full French spelling rather than a phonetic approximation.
- Soft throughout, with no hard consonants.
- The stress differs between English and French use and neither is wrong.
- It sits in a crowded family of similar-sounding names with unrelated origins.
- It is closely dated to the 1960s.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Cherie to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Cherie
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cheries are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 26,000 people named Cherie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cherie in 2025?
- Cherie ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cherie?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Cherie — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cherie with classmates?
- Cherie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cherie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cherie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cherie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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