Cherokee
Masculine
Cherokee is given to both — 337 boys and 2,572 girls since 1880. See Cherokee as a girl nameSee other names given to both
The Cherokee call themselves Aniyunwiya, which means roughly the principal people. Cherokee is what outsiders called them, and where that word came from is not known — the usual guess is a Creek term for people who speak differently. The most remarkable thing associated with the name is a man called Sequoyah, who invented a writing system for his language from nothing, without being able to read any language at all.
How old is the name Cherokee?
Cherokee first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Cherokee alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 300 people named Cherokee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cherokee most popular?
Cherokee peaked in 1995, reaching #2055 nationally. See the whole 1995 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Cherokee
Sequoyah spent roughly a decade working out a syllabary for Cherokee and completed it in the early 1820s; within a few years literacy among the Cherokee was widespread and they were printing a newspaper in their own script. It is one of very few documented cases in history of an individual inventing a writing system from scratch. The forced removal along the Trail of Tears followed within a generation. The word entered American naming as a place name and then as a personal name, which is a common fate for the names of Native nations and a complicated one.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Cherokee is an exonym — a name given by others — and its origin is genuinely unsettled. The most-cited proposal derives it from a Creek word meaning people of a different speech; another traces it through Choctaw. Neither is established. The nation's own name for itself, Aniyunwiya, is a separate word and means something like the real or principal people.
Pronouncing Cherokee
CHAIR-uh-kee
Three syllables, stress on the first, with a secondary weight on the last. Every American has seen the word in print, so nobody hesitates over it.
Nicknames for Cherokee
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
- 1975
- Most boys named
- 199540 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2055reached in 1995
- Change vs 2015
- 0.0%5 in 2017, 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.
Cherokee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tsalagi in Cherokee — related form
Cherokees among us
people named Cherokee 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
Cherokee 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
- Everyone can say it and spell it without being told, which is rare for a three-syllable name.
- Cher works as a short form and is already established as a name.
- It is recorded for boys as well as girls, though nearly all are girls.
- It is the name of a living nation with a government, citizens and a difficult history with the United States, and giving it to a child is a public act that some Cherokee people object to.
- Unverified claims of Cherokee ancestry are common enough in America to be a running sore, and a child with this name may be assumed to be making one.
- It is also a car, a county and a rose, so the associations are many and not all of them are about people.
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Cherokee
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Cherokees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Cherokee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cherokee in 2025?
- Cherokee is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Cherokee with classmates?
- Cherokee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Charles#48 · Christopher#68 · Carl#1132 · Christian#96 · Caleb#58 · Cameron#76 · Carlos#150 · Clarence#1499
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cherokee? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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