Cherise
Feminine
Cherise sits between three words that all sound alike and mean different things. Cherie is French for darling; charis is Greek for grace; cerise is French for a cherry, and it is where English gets the fruit's name. This spelling could be built on any of them, and the -ise ending points mildly at the third.
How old is the name Cherise?
Cherise first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Cherise alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 4,300 people named Cherise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cherise most popular?
Cherise peaked in 1971, reaching #882 nationally. See the whole 1971 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Cherise
The cherry story is worth telling on its own: Old French cerise was borrowed into English as cherise, heard as a plural, and back-formed into cherry — which means the English word for the fruit is the result of a grammatical mistake made eight hundred years ago. That is the same spelling as this name. Whether any family reached for it is doubtful; the likelier route is Cherie with an American ending. But the fruit is genuinely there in the letters, and it is a better story than the endearment.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
French cerise names the cherry and gave English the word — by a misunderstanding, since English speakers heard the final s as a plural and invented a singular cherry that French never had. Cherie is a term of endearment. Greek charis is grace. All three are real, all three are close in sound, and no evidence separates them for a particular family. The cherry has the best claim on the spelling and the weakest claim on the tradition.
Pronouncing Cherise
shuh-REESE
shuh-REESE, two syllables, stress at the back, the ending a crisp s. French cerise is suh-REEZ with a z, so this spelling has changed the final consonant as well as the opening one.
Nicknames for Cherise
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
- 1947
- Most girls named
- 1970147 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #882reached in 1971
- Change vs 2019
- 0.0%5 in 2024, from 5
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.
Cherise in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cerise in French — related form
- Chérie in French — related form
Cherises among us
people named Cherise are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Cherise sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Three possible sources, all of them real words with documented histories.
- Cher is a ready short form and a standing name of its own.
- The stress at the end gives it a clean finish against a front-stressed surname.
- Charisse, Cherisse and Sherise are all in use, so the spelling is dictated every time.
- The origin is genuinely unsettled between three near-neighbors.
- It is closely tied to one American generation and dates a person fairly precisely.
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Cherise
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Cherises are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,300 people named Cherise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cherise in 2025?
- Cherise is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Cherise with classmates?
- Cherise will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cherise? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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