Cheyenna
Feminine
Cheyenna adds a final vowel to an American place name that was already being given to daughters, which is a belt-and-braces approach: the ending marks a sex the name was not in any doubt about. The people the place name labels left behind one of the most remarkable bodies of nineteenth-century American art.
How old is the name Cheyenna?
Cheyenna first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Cheyenna alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 700 people named Cheyenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cheyenna most popular?
Cheyenna peaked in 1996, reaching #2177 nationally. See the whole 1996 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Cheyenna
After the southern Plains wars, several dozen men were taken from their nations and shipped to an old Spanish fort in Florida as prisoners. They had no materials, so the officer in charge gave them what the fort had: discarded accountants' ledgers, and colored pencils. What they drew in the ruled columns has become one of the best-documented bodies of indigenous art in the country — battles, hunts, courtships, and then, as the years passed, the train journey east, the fort itself, the classrooms. The form did not start there; men had been painting the same subjects on hide for generations and had moved onto paper as trade goods arrived. But the Florida books survive in quantity, many of them signed, and museums now hold them under the artists' names. The drawings were sold to tourists at the time for small change.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The word behind the place name is not the people's own word for themselves; it reached English through a neighboring language and its literal sense is disputed. The added ending is a modern American device with no content. Together they produce a name whose meaning cannot be stated without inventing one.
Pronouncing Cheyenna
shy-ANN-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The added vowel at the end is unstressed and light, so in fast speech the name is hard to tell from the version without it.
Nicknames for Cheyenna
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
- 1978
- Most girls named
- 199662 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2177reached in 1996
- Change vs 2013
- −14.3%6 in 2014, from 7
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.
Cheyennas among us
people named Cheyenna 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
Cheyenna 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
- Middle stress on three syllables is the easiest rhythm English has.
- Several short forms come out of it and they sound completely different from one another.
- The sound is familiar even where the spelling is not.
- Cheyenne is far commoner and will be written for it by default.
- The name labels a people who call themselves something else, which is worth knowing before choosing it.
- The final vowel is nearly inaudible, so the spelling has to be given aloud.
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Cheyenna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Cheyennas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Cheyenna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cheyenna in 2025?
- Cheyenna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Cheyenna with classmates?
- Cheyenna 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 Cheyenna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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