How popular is the name Cheryl?

Cheryl ranks 70th among girls' names in US records, with 525,341 births since 1909. Over the past decade it accounts for 684.

Is Cheryl a unisex name?

No. Cheryl is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.

1958, when 28,055 children were given the name. It has been in use for 116 years and is still recorded as of 2024.

Sherrell, Sheryl. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.

Girl name#70 of girl names

Pronounced SH EH1 R AH0 L (ARPABET)

Cheryl is a girls' name, and first appears in 1909. It has been given to 525,341 children — the 70th most common girls' name on record.

It has been slipping, down 36% on the previous decade. Its best single year was 1958, when 28,055 children were given it.

Two other spellings are counted in that total — Sherrell and Sheryl — because they are pronounced identically.

1958Girls: 28,055Boys: 72

These spellings sound identical to Cheryl and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.

Phonetic detail

Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.

Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.

Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.

How popular is the name Cheryl?: Cheryl ranks 70th among girls' names in US records, with 525,341 births since 1909. Over the past decade it accounts for 684.
Is Cheryl a unisex name?: No. Cheryl is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
When was Cheryl most popular?: 1958, when 28,055 children were given the name. It has been in use for 116 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
How else is Cheryl spelled?: Sherrell, Sheryl. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.