Girls' name · peaked in 1958
Cheryl name popularity since 1925
440,343 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Cheryl. Half of them were born in 1958 or earlier, so the typical Cheryl is about 68 years old in 2026. Cheryl peaked in 1958 as the #13 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 440,343
- Named Cheryl, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #4,376 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.8% girls
- 439,365 girls · 978 boys
- Most popular in
- Rhode Island
- 2.17× its national share
Peak year is the year Cheryl made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Cheryl births per year, 1925–2025
1958 was the biggest year for Cheryl both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1940 and 1945, Cheryl became 25× more common, from 1 in 4,030 baby girls to 1 in 160.
- Steepest fall: Between 1979 and 1984, its share of baby girls fell by 61%, from 1 in 500 to 1 in 1,270.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Cheryl's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Cheryl.
Decade by decade
Babies named Cheryl in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 169 | 0 | – |
| 1930s | 1,300 | 5 | #668 |
| 1940s | 70,959 | 139 | #32 |
| 1950s | 171,387 | 292 | #19 |
| 1960s | 135,650 | 351 | #31 |
| 1970s | 40,393 | 139 | #97 |
| 1980s | 14,319 | 45 | #209 |
| 1990s | 3,317 | 7 | #780 |
| 2000s | 1,036 | 0 | #1,881 |
| 2010s | 612 | 0 | #3,035 |
| 2020–25 | 223 | 0 | #4,376 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
69.4% of babies named Cheryl from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Cheryl is most popular
The index compares Cheryl's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Cheryl.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | 2.17× | 3,390 |
| Massachusetts | 1.70× | 17,834 |
| Maine | 1.56× | 2,941 |
| North Dakota | 1.56× | 2,169 |
| South Dakota | 1.54× | 2,170 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Cheryl and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Cheryl (this page) | 439,365 | 1958 |
| Cheryll | 2,628 | 1955 |
| Cherryl | 1,757 | 1946 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Cheryl's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Cheryl.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Cheryl (1958).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data