Cheyenne
Feminine
Cheyenne is given to both — 70,732 girls and 2,696 boys since 1880. See Cheyenne as a boy nameSee other names given to both
The Cheyenne call themselves Tsitsistas, which is generally translated as the people. Cheyenne is what their neighbors called them, it reached English through French traders who heard it from the Dakota, and it is the name that ended up on the maps and in the treaties.
How old is the name Cheyenne?
Cheyenne first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Cheyenne alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 70,000 people named Cheyenne are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cheyenne most popular?
Cheyenne peaked in 1996, reaching #68 nationally. Today it ranks #920, 852 places below that high. See the whole 1996 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Cheyenne
The name peaked in America alongside a whole wave of western place names given to daughters — Dakota, Montana, Sierra, Savannah, Cheyenne — in the nineteen-eighties and nineties. That wave has a shape worth noticing: the names are geographic rather than personal, they refer to the American west specifically, and several of them are the names of nations rather than places. What made them attractive was the landscape they suggested. What they carry is more complicated than that, and the Cheyenne nations are here to say so.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The word is not from the Cheyenne language. Its meaning in Dakota is disputed and most readings of it are unflattering, which is a common feature of names given by neighbors.
Pronouncing Cheyenne
shy-AN
Two syllables with the weight at the back. Every spelling of the name is said the same way.
Nicknames for Cheyenne
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
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 19964,866 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #68reached in 1996
- Change vs 2023
- −20.4%285 in 2025, from 358
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.
Cheyenne in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Cheyennes among us
people named Cheyenne are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 5,640 born in 2025 was named Cheyenne
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 Veronica test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cheyenne's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Veronica climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Veronica's path sketches the road Cheyenne is walking now.
Cheyenne is coming down from a big peak (#68 in 1996). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cheyenne is headed
Cheyenne is easing off slowly — about 23% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Cheyenne beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cheyenne in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Every sound in it is easy for an English speaker and the standard spelling is stable.
- The stress at the back gives it a lift most two-syllable names do not have.
- It is familiar to every American from the map.
- It is a living nation's name, and members of that nation are here to have an opinion about its use.
- The word is not theirs, and its meaning in the language it came from is not friendly.
- It is heavily generation-marked to the nineteen-nineties.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Cheyenne to the vote.
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What they receive
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Cheyenne
Feminine · #920 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cheyennes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 70,000 people named Cheyenne are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cheyenne in 2025?
- Cheyenne ranks #920 among US girl names in 2025, with 285 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cheyenne?
- About 1 in every 5,640 US girls born in 2025 was named Cheyenne — 285 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cheyenne with classmates?
- Cheyenne will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cheyenne
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Giana#920 · Winifred#922 · Emmeline#922 · Elyse#918 · Zaylee#918 · Clare#924 · Elisabeth#925 · Maddie#925
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cheyenne? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cheyenne and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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