Cree
Masculine
Cree is given to both — 1,129 boys and 1,124 girls since 1880. See Cree as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Cree is the English name for one of the largest Indigenous nations in North America, and it is not their own. The people call themselves Nehiyaw; Cree came through French from an Ojibwe word, shortened by traders until only a syllable was left.
How old is the name Cree?
Cree first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Cree is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. 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 2021, reaching #1503 nationally. Today it ranks #3089, 1,586 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Cree
Our story of Cree is about names that outsiders give. The Nehiyawak call themselves that; French traders arriving in the seventeenth century heard an Ojibwe word for one band, wrote it Kristineaux, shortened it in the ledgers, and the shortened form became the English name for a nation of hundreds of thousands of people. That is not unusual — a great many peoples are known worldwide by what their neighbors called them rather than by their own word for themselves. Knowing that is part of using the name honestly, and it is a different thing from the tidy meaning a naming list would print.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The English word comes from French Kristineaux or Kilistinon, which French traders took from an Ojibwe term for one particular band and then applied to a much larger group. Shortened to Cris and then Cree. The Ojibwe word's own meaning is not securely established. The people's own name is Nehiyaw, which has its own quite separate derivation. So this name is an abbreviation of a mishearing of somebody else's word.
Pronouncing Cree
KREE
One syllable, rhyming with tree. There is no ambiguity in the sound at all.
Nicknames for Cree
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
- 1989
- Most boys named
- 2022120 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1503reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −49.4%39 in 2025, from 77
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
- Nēhiyaw in Cree — related form
- Cri in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, North Carolina.
Crees among us
people named Cree are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 43,797 born in 2025 was named Cree
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cree
- #3089
- Cree on the 2025 chart
- #854
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cree went to 39 boys in 2025, but Kree is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 74, which makes it the 854th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,235 places above the chart.
- Cree39
- Kree35
About 1 boy in 23,082 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 43,797 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 Barth 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: Barth climbed just as high around 1955, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Barth'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
Where Cree is headed
Cree should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Cree beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cree in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, one syllable, and said and spelled correctly by everyone.
- Used for both sexes, with no strong pull either way.
- Pairs cleanly with a long surname, as very short first names do.
- It is the name of a living nation rather than a personal name, and using it is read differently by different people — including by Cree people.
- It is an outsiders' word, not the one the nation uses for itself.
- One syllable leaves nothing to shorten and no longer form to grow into.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Cree
Masculine · #3089 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 the most-used spelling in US records — 39 of the 74 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kree.
- How popular is the name Cree in 2025?
- Cree ranks #3089 among US boy names in 2025, with 39 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cree?
- About 1 in every 43,797 US boys born in 2025 was named Cree — 39 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.
Aadi#3089 · Wynston#3089 · Braelyn#3089 · Leopoldo#3089 · Zaedyn#3089 · Saxon#3089 · Rehan#3089 · Yaqub#3089
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cree? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cree and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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