Cy
Masculine
Cy is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,898 boys against 23 girls since 1880.
Cy shortens Cyrus, and Cyrus the Great is the only foreign king the Hebrew Bible calls the Lord's anointed.
How old is the name Cy?
Cy first appears in US birth records in 1902 — 123 years ago. The typical Cy alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 3,500 people named Cy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cy most popular?
Cy peaked in 1902, reaching #1013 nationally. Today it ranks #2539, 1,526 places below that high. See the whole 1902 chart.
Cy appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Kurush to Cy
The story of Cy
Cyrus the Great let the exiled Judeans return and rebuild the temple, and Isaiah calls him the Lord's anointed — messiah — the only foreigner in scripture to be called so. His own name's meaning has not been recovered. Cy is the English short form and appears in American records in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Through Cyrus, from the Old Persian Kurush, whose meaning is genuinely unrecovered — 'sun', 'young' and 'humiliator of the enemy' have all been proposed. None is established. Cy is the English clipping. The uncertainty is well documented.
How the name formed
- Kurush
- Cyrus
- Cy
Related forms: Cyrus · Kourosh
Pronouncing Cy
SY
One syllable. Cy and Sy are homophones; only the spelling differs.
Nicknames for Cy
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
- 1902
- Most boys named
- 2007113 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1013reached in 1902
- Change vs 2023
- −30.7%52 in 2025, from 75
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.
Cy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cyrus in English — related form
- Kourosh in Persian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Cys among us
people named Cy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 32,848 born in 2025 was named Cy
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cy
- #2539
- Cy on the 2025 chart
- #866
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cy went to 52 boys in 2025, but Sy is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 62, which makes it the 866th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,673 places above the chart.
- Cy52
- Sy10
About 1 boy in 27,550 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 32,848 for Cy 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
Fashion outlook
Cy 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 Cy is headed
Cy 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.
Cy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That Isaiah calls a Persian king the Lord's anointed is a first-rate fact.
- Cyrus is available as a full formal version.
- One syllable, clean, and never mispronounced.
- Cyrus's own meaning is genuinely unrecovered.
- It is very short and can be swallowed by a long surname.
- It reads as a nickname rather than a full name.
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What they receive
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Cy
Masculine · #2539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Cy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cy?
- Cy is the most-used spelling in US records — 52 of the 62 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Sy.
- How popular is the name Cy in 2025?
- Cy ranks #2539 among US boy names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cy?
- About 1 in every 32,848 US boys born in 2025 was named Cy — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cy with classmates?
- Cy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yanis#2539 · Ebenezer#2539 · Mazen#2539 · Ziyad#2539 · Mercer#2539 · Ramy#2539 · Konnor#2539 · Luigi#2539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cy and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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