Chimere
Feminine
Chimere is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 824 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Chimere is a real English word before it is a name: a chimere is the sleeveless gown a bishop wears over the rest, and it has nothing to do with the monster the similar word names.
How old is the name Chimere?
Chimere first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Chimere alive today was born around 1982, making them about 43 years old. About 800 people named Chimere are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Chimere most popular?
Chimere peaked in 1980, reaching #902 nationally. See the whole 1980 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Chimere
The two words are worth keeping apart. The garment comes through French from a Latin word for a loose tunic, and survives almost entirely inside Anglican vesture, where it is the black or scarlet over-gown of a bishop. The creature — lion, goat and serpent in one body — is Greek, and gave English the adjective for something imagined and impossible, and the biological term for an organism made of cells from two sources. They look alike on the page and are unrelated in every other respect, which is a reminder that resemblance between two words is evidence of nothing at all.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The English noun is a garment, borrowed through Old French from a word for a tunic. The monster is a separate Greek word. Whether an American family took either, or built the name from familiar sounds, is not recorded.
Pronouncing Chimere
shuh-MEER
Two syllables with the stress at the back.
Nicknames for Chimere
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 1980167 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #902reached in 1980
- Change vs 2008
- 0.0%7 in 2015, 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.
Chimeres among us
people named Chimere 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
Chimere 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
- The back stress gives it a strong finish.
- It is musical and unusual without being hard to say.
- It works for either child, which the record confirms.
- It will be read as the monster word by anybody who knows that one.
- The pronunciation is not obvious from the spelling and will need giving.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, though nearly every bearer in the record is a girl.
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Chimere
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Chimeres are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Chimere are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Chimere in 2025?
- Chimere is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Chimere with classmates?
- Chimere 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 Chimere? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Chimere and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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