The story in the numbers

711,201 girls have been named Cynthia in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1957, with 39,340 births — 1.9% of all girls recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 331 births in 2024, against 39,340 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1960, and the 1950s alone account for 37%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 49 of them in the top 100 and 11 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,960 boys have also been given it, 0.27% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Cynthia

582

701

694

1,911

3,661

9,666

58,060

263,429

196,596

80,200

41,667

31,312

15,170

5,945

1,607

In 1957, its biggest year

Cynthia was the 7th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1957 were Mary, Susan, Linda, Debra and Karen. See all of 1957.

Names that rose and fell with Cynthia

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.