Cree
Feminine
Cree is given to both — 1,124 girls and 1,129 boys since 1880. See Cree as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Cree is the English name of one of the largest Indigenous nations in North America, spanning Canada from Alberta to Quebec, and it is also a Scottish river and surname. Both are genuine, and an American Cree may descend from either. Its use as a girls' given name is small and belongs to the 1990s, peaking in 1991.
How old is the name Cree?
Cree first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Cree alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 1,100 people named Cree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cree most popular?
Cree peaked in 1991, reaching #1669 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 4,053 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Where it comes from
From Kristinaux to Cree
The story of Cree
French traders in the seventeenth century recorded the name Kristinaux for the people they met around James Bay; English shortened it to Cree, and the shortened form became standard in English-language usage and law. It is an exonym — a name given from outside — of a kind common across North American nomenclature. Meanwhile in Scotland the Water of Cree gives its name to Creetown and to the surname Cree, which crossed to America with Scottish and Ulster migration and appears in American records from the eighteenth century. The given name is modern and small, and it sits on both of these at once.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The word Cree is not a Cree word. It is a shortening of the French Kristinaux or Kilistinon, itself a French rendering of an Ojibwe term for a neighboring group, and its original meaning in Ojibwe is not recoverable. The Cree call themselves Nehiyawak, Iyiniwak or related terms depending on the dialect. Separately, the Cree is a river in Galloway in south-west Scotland, from a Brittonic word for a boundary or a weir, and it produced a Scottish surname. The two are unconnected.
How the name formed
- Kristinaux
- Cree
Related forms: Cri · Cree
Pronouncing Cree
KREE
One syllable, rhyming with tree. There is no ambiguity in the spelling and nobody has to be taught it.
Nicknames for Cree
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
- 1989
- Most girls named
- 199189 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1669reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- −27.6%21 in 2025, from 29
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.
Cree in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cri in French — spelling variant
- Cree in Scottish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Maryland.
Crees among us
people named Cree are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Cree
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cree
- #5722
- Cree on the 2025 chart
- #914
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cree went to 21 girls in 2025, but Kree is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 46, which makes it the 914th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,808 places above the chart.
- Kree25
- Cree21
About 1 girl in 34,941 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 76,537 for Cree itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Carlette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cree's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carlette climbed just as high around 1966, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carlette's path sketches the road Cree is walking now.
Cree 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
Cree beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cree in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, four letters, and immediately spellable by anyone who hears it.
- It works equally on either sex and carries no generational marker.
- The Scottish river and surname give it a second, entirely separate history.
- It is the English name of a living nation of several hundred thousand people, and it will be read that way first.
- Families without Cree ancestry should expect that connection to be assumed and asked about.
- It is short enough to be misheard as Bree, Bri or Kree.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Cree
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Crees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Cree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cree?
- Cree is one of 2 recorded spellings. Kree is the more common one — 25 births in 2025 against 21 for Cree.
- How popular is the name Cree in 2025?
- Cree ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cree?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Cree — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cree with classmates?
- Cree will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cree
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cree? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cree and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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