girl's name
Cindy
SIN-dee
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 326,317
Northern Ireland
#394
2004 births
Cindy is a girl's name, a pet form of Cynthia, which was a title of the moon goddess Artemis. It peaked in 1957 and now ranks 1929th in the United States, charting in three markets.
- Cindy is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 1957, when 20,307 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 33,154 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1886.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Cindy over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 15 |
| 1890s | 5 |
| 1900s | 35 |
| 1910s | 81 |
| 1920s | 117 |
| 1930s | 277 |
| 1940s | 5,486 |
| 1950s | 84,107 |
| 1960s | 91,808 |
| 1970s | 31,017 |
| 1980s | 16,192 |
| 1990s | 15,134 |
| 2000s | 9,901 |
| 2010s | 3,182 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 708 |
What Cindy means
Cindy means she of Mount Cynthus, carried through Cynthia. It is a geographic epithet applied to a goddess rather than a descriptive name, so it identifies a birthplace.
Where Cindy comes from
Cindy is clipped from Cynthia, the Greek Kynthia — an epithet of Artemis, who with her twin Apollo was said to have been born on Mount Cynthus on Delos. Because Artemis was identified with the moon, Cynthia became a poetic word for the moon itself, used that way by English poets for centuries. Cindy can also shorten Lucinda, a different name built on the Latin lux, light, and the two are often conflated. Its American life is compressed and mid-century, and the 1950 film of Cinderella, whose heroine is called Cinderelly in the songs, arrived just before its steepest rise.
Cindy in use
Cindy peaked in the United States in 1957, when 20,307 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 1653rd in England and Wales on 18 births, 1929th in the United States on 100 and 2839th in France, across 326,317 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Cynthia, the name it comes from, peaked in the same year and holds more than twice the volume.
How popular is Cindy?
In 2025, Cindy was given to 100 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Cindy is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Cindy
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Cindy also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Cindy over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Cindy in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Arabic
- Cynthia
Sibling names for Cindy
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Cindy — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Cindy
What does the name Cindy mean?
She of Mount Cynthus, carried through Cynthia — an epithet of the goddess Artemis.
Is Cindy short for Cynthia?
Usually, though it can equally shorten Lucinda, which is a separate name from the Latin for light.
Is Cindy a moon name?
Indirectly — Artemis was identified with the moon, and poets used Cynthia to mean the moon for centuries.
How popular is Cindy?
1929th in the United States, down from a 1957 peak of 20,307 births.
Is Cindy a girl's or a boy's name?
Cindy is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Cindy?
Cindy has 2 syllables.
Is Cindy a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Cindy currently ranks #1,653 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.