Cherrita
A feminine diminutive form of Cheri, meaning "dear" or "darling" in French.
Name Census estimates that about 43 living Americans carry the first name Cherrita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cherrita today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cherrita births was 1979 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cherrita. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cherrita. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
43
~ 1 in 7,971,031 Americans
Peak year
1979
8 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1990 SSA rank
#13,377
Tracked since 1970
Census
Cherrita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 102 people with the first name Cherrita, which placed it at #53,122 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#53,122
National first-name rank
People counted
102
102 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cherrita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cherrita is Black at 82.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.9%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cherrita described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cherrita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.4% · 84
- White5.9% · 6
- Two or more races5.9% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1
Popularity
Cherrita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cherrita from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 31 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cherrita by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cherrita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cherrita
Cherrita is a feminine given name with roots that can be traced back to the ancient Greek language. The name is believed to have derived from the Greek word "chera," which means "widow" or "bereaved." This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with women who had lost their husbands or partners.
During the Byzantine era, the name Cherrita was relatively common among Greek-speaking communities in the eastern Mediterranean region. It was often used as a diminutive form of the name Chera, which was more widely used at the time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cherrita can be found in a 10th-century Byzantine manuscript that documented the lives of various saints and martyrs. The manuscript mentions a woman named Cherrita who was a devout Christian and lived in the city of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Cherrita spread to other parts of Europe, particularly in regions with Greek cultural influence, such as Italy and Southern France. It was often adopted by families with ties to the Byzantine Empire or those who had Greek ancestry.
In the 14th century, a woman named Cherrita di Montefeltro was a prominent figure in the Italian city-state of Urbino. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for scholars and artists during the Italian Renaissance.
Another notable figure with the name Cherrita was a Greek Orthodox nun who lived in the 16th century on the island of Crete. She was renowned for her piety and her work in establishing a convent that provided education and shelter to orphaned girls.
In the 18th century, a woman named Cherrita Mavromichali played a significant role in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. She was a member of a prominent family from the Peloponnese region and actively supported the Greek revolutionary forces.
During the 19th century, the name Cherrita gained some popularity in parts of Europe, particularly in countries with Greek communities or cultural ties to Greece. This was likely influenced by the growing interest in classical Greek literature and culture during that time period.
While the name Cherrita is not as widely used today as it was in previous centuries, it continues to be a part of the Greek naming tradition, particularly among families with strong cultural ties to Greece and its history.
People
Cherrita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cherrita as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cherrita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cherrita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 43 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cherrita going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 7,971,031 US residents.
Is Cherrita a common name?
We classify Cherrita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 52.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 47 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cherrita most popular?
The single biggest year for Cherrita was 1979, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cherrita is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cherrita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 102 people with the name Cherrita, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #53,122 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cherrita in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cherrita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cherrita appears almost entirely female. Of the 97 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cherrita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cherrita is Black at 82.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.9%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cherrita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Cherrita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (84 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cherrita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cherrita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cherrita in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cherrita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cherrita in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cherrita can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Cherrita?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.