Cindy
Feminine
Cindy is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 257,294 girls against 771 boys since 1880. See Cindy as a boy name
Cindy is recorded for boys and girls alike and has at least three possible parents, none of which the record chooses between. The word it most obviously resembles is itself the result of two languages colliding in a spelling.
How old is the name Cindy?
Cindy first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Cindy alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 230,000 people named Cindy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cindy most popular?
Cindy peaked in 1957, reaching #19 nationally. Today it ranks #1927, 1,908 places below that high. See the whole 1957 chart.
Cindy appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Cindy
English had a perfectly good native word for the residue of a fire: sinder, with an s, related to the German Sinter. Then French arrived with cendre, meaning ashes, which came from the Latin cinis and is a completely different word. The two meant similar enough things that English speakers conflated them, and the native word kept its sound but took the French spelling, which is why we write cinder with a c and say it with an s. It is not a borrowing and it is not a native word; it is a native word wearing a foreign coat. A name beginning with a soft c is standing in exactly that spot.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Cynthia, Lucinda and Cinderella have all been proposed and they are unrelated names with different histories. The record holds this spelling on its own and does not indicate which, if any, stands behind it.
Pronouncing Cindy
SIN-dee
Two syllables with the stress in front and a soft c. There is nothing in it to get wrong.
Nicknames for Cindy
Limited
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
- 1886
- Most girls named
- 195720,272 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #19reached in 1957
- Change vs 2022
- −2.0%100 in 2025, from 102
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.
Cindy in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Cindys among us
people named Cindy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 16,073 born in 2025 was named Cindy
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 Catherine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cindy's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Catherine climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Catherine's path sketches the road Cindy is walking now.
Cindy sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cindy is headed
Cindy should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Cindy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cindy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is warm and instantly understood, which very few names manage on a first hearing.
- Five letters and two syllables, never misspelled after one telling.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it does not force a reading on anyone.
- It reads as a short form to some people, so formal settings will keep asking what it stands for.
- It belongs audibly to one stretch of the last century, which places it in time for most listeners.
- The three candidate parents are unrelated names, so there is no single meaning to give.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Cindy
Feminine · #1927 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cindys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 230,000 people named Cindy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cindy in 2025?
- Cindy ranks #1927 among US girl names in 2025, with 100 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cindy?
- About 1 in every 16,073 US girls born in 2025 was named Cindy — 100 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cindy with classmates?
- Cindy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cindy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cove#1927 · Ahuva#1927 · Collyns#1927 · Estefany#1927 · Cori#1927 · Isela#1927 · Lula#1927 · Coral#1927
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cindy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cindy 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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