US Name Trends

Cynthia

Greek Kynthia, an epithet of Artemis meaning “from Mount Kynthos” on Delos.

1957peak year
No. 7best rank (1957)
713,412babies since 1880
outside top 1000 in 2025

Popularity, 1880–2025

Babies named Cynthia per year — peak 39,340▬ girls ▬ boys18801900192019401960198020002020

An epithet of the moon goddess Artemis, fashionable in the midcentury decades.

Cynthia appears in the national records from the very first year, 1880. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American girls in every year from 1945 to 1993. It spent 11 years inside the top 10. Its biggest year was 1957, when 39,340 newborn girls received the name, ranking it No. 7 nationally. All told, 713,412 Americans have been given the name since 1880.

Related names

Other spellings on record: Cinthia (6,144), Synthia (2,428), Cinthya (1,807) (total births since 1880)

Other names that share a story: Cindy

Explore Cynthia interactively →

By the decade

DecadeBirthsBest rank
1880s582No. 197
1890s701No. 282
1900s694No. 360
1910s1,911No. 367
1920s3,661No. 297
1930s9,666No. 152
1940s58,061No. 27
1950s263,432No. 7
1960s196,597No. 8
1970s80,196No. 24
1980s41,666No. 59
1990s31,313No. 88
2000s15,172No. 164
2010s5,946No. 380
2020s1,855No. 806

Births and rank shown for girls, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.

🍼 Enjoying this? Buy my baby a diaper

Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.