Cynthia
Masculine · “she of Cynthus”
Cynthia is given to girls far more often — 711,453 girls against 1,959 boys since 1880. See Cynthia as a girl name
The epithet this name comes from was carried by two gods and English only kept the woman's. Artemis and Apollo were twins born on the same island, both were called after the mountain there, and both epithets existed side by side in Greek and Latin. Only one crossed into English as a name.
How old is the name Cynthia?
Cynthia first appears in US birth records in 1933 — 92 years ago. The typical Cynthia alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 1,600 people named Cynthia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cynthia most popular?
Cynthia peaked in 1957, reaching #861 nationally. See the whole 1957 chart.
Where it comes from
From Kynthia to Cynthia
The story of Cynthia
The island the name points at was subjected to one of the strangest pieces of legislation in the ancient world. Because it was sacred to the twins, Athens ordered that nobody could be born or die on it — every grave was dug up and the remains moved to a neighboring island, and anyone who fell seriously ill or went into labor had to be ferried across the water. The purification was carried out more than once. For a considerable period the most sacred island in the Aegean was, by law, a place where no human life could begin or end.
Meaning
she of Cynthus
A title rather than a name: it identifies the goddess by where she was born rather than by any quality. Poets used it as a substitute for the goddess's proper name and eventually for the moon itself.
How the name formed
- Kynthia
- Cynthia
Related forms: Cinzia · Cintia · Cíntia
Pronouncing Cynthia
SIN-thee-uh
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The initial c is soft, as it is in every Greek word English took through Latin.
Nicknames for Cynthia
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
- 1933
- Most boys named
- 195776 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #861reached in 1957
- Change vs 2002
- −16.7%5 in 2003, from 6
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.
Cynthia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cinzia in Italian — same name
- Cintia in Spanish — same name
- Cíntia in Portuguese — same name
Cynthias among us
people named Cynthia are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Cynthia sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It carries a genuinely ancient title with a specific place behind it.
- Cindy sits inside it as a short form with a completely different register.
- The spelling and the sound agree once the soft c is taken for granted.
- Its peak was very large and very concentrated, which dates the name clearly.
- The obvious clipping is a homophone of an awkward word.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
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Cynthia
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Cynthias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Cynthia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cynthia in 2025?
- Cynthia is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Cynthia with classmates?
- Cynthia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Charles#48 · Christopher#68 · Carl#1132 · Christian#96 · Caleb#58 · Cameron#76 · Carlos#150 · Clarence#1499
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cynthia? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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