Cordero
Masculine · “lamb”
Cordero is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,807 boys against 9 girls since 1880.
A cordero is not just a lamb. Latin cordus meant late-born, of animals dropped after the main season, and the Spanish word descends from that: a cordero is specifically the lamb that came late, and the specificity is a thousand years old.
How old is the name Cordero?
Cordero first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Cordero alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 1,700 people named Cordero are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cordero most popular?
Cordero peaked in 1987, reaching #481 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 6,322 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From cordus to Cordero
The story of Cordero
Spanish surnames come from occupations, places, patronymics and nicknames, and animal words belong to the last group; Cordero, Becerra, Novillo and Borrego all name livestock and were applied to people for reasons now unrecoverable. The word's devotional resonance is strong in Spanish, since the Lamb of God is Cordero de Dios, and the surname carries that in a way the English Lamb does not quite. As an American given name Cordero belongs to the general movement of surnames into first names and is used mainly in African American families; its best year in United States records is 1987.
Meaning
lamb
Spanish cordero, a lamb, from Late Latin cordarius, from cordus, late-born. Latin distinguished agnus, a lamb generally, from the late-born animal, and Spanish kept the second word and lost the first as an everyday term. The religious sense, the Lamb of God, is Agnus Dei in Latin and Cordero de Dios in Spanish, which is why the surname carries a devotional weight as well.
How the name formed
- cordus
- cordarius
- cordero
Related forms: Cordero · Cordeiro · Agnello
Pronouncing Cordero
kor-DEH-roh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The Spanish r is tapped; English speakers say kor-DAIR-oh, which is the ordinary adaptation.
Nicknames for Cordero
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
- 1986
- Most boys named
- 1987340 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #481reached in 1987
- Change vs 2024
- −14.3%12 in 2025, from 14
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.
Cordero in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cordero in Spanish — same name
- Cordeiro in Portuguese — same name
- Agnello in Italian — related form
Corderos among us
people named Cordero are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Cordero
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 Raymon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cordero's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Raymon climbed just as high around 1934, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Raymon's path sketches the road Cordero is walking now.
Cordero 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
Cordero beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cordero in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Spanish meaning with a precise and unexpected Latin origin.
- Cord and Cory are two short forms in different registers.
- Carries a devotional resonance that the English word lamb does not.
- It reads as a surname, which is what it is.
- Cordeiro is the Portuguese form and looks quite different.
- Three syllables will be shortened in everyday American use.
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What they receive
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Cordero
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Corderos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Cordero are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cordero in 2025?
- Cordero ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cordero?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Cordero — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cordero with classmates?
- Cordero will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cordero
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cordero? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cordero and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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