Chimere
A French name meaning "a dream or vision".
Name Census estimates that about 778 living Americans carry the first name Chimere. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Chimere today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chimere births was 1980 (167 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chimere. 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.
People living today
778
~ 1 in 440,558 Americans
Peak year
1980
167 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2001 SSA rank
#10,852
Tracked since 1979
Census
Chimere in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 753 people with the first name Chimere, which placed it at #15,320 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
#15,320
National first-name rank
People counted
753
753 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chimere
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chimere is Black at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.9%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Chimere 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 Chimere at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.4% · 696
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 22
- Two or more races2.7% · 20
- White1.5% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Chimere
Out of the 829 babies given the name Chimere since 1880, 99.4% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Chimere as a male name
- Ranked #10,852 in 2001
- 5 male births in 2001
- Peak: 2001 (5 births)
Chimere as a female name
- Ranked #13,304 in 2015
- 7 female births in 2015
- Peak: 1980 (167 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chimere leans strongly female. 692 people counted with this name were female (92.0%), compared with 60 male bearers (8.0%).
Popularity
Chimere: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chimere from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 656 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chimere 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 Chimere during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chimeres live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Florida, Maryland, New York recorded the most babies named Chimere, while Wisconsin, North Carolina, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chimere
The given name Chimere has its origins rooted in ancient Greek mythology. It is derived from the word 'Chimaira', which was a monstrous, fire-breathing creature composed of multiple animal parts. This mythical hybrid being was said to have the body of a lion, the head of a goat, and a serpent's tail. The name Chimere is considered a variant spelling of the original Chimaira.
In Greek folklore, the Chimaira was a notorious and formidable monster that terrorized the lands of Lycia and Caria in ancient Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. The legendary hero Bellerophon was tasked with slaying this beast, which he accomplished with the help of the winged horse Pegasus. The story of the Chimaira and its defeat by Bellerophon is recounted in various ancient Greek texts, including Homer's Iliad and Hesiod's Theogony.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chimere can be found in the works of the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his epic poem Metamorphoses, Ovid retells the myth of the Chimaira and its eventual demise at the hands of Bellerophon.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chimere. One of the earliest was Chimere of Alexandria, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 3rd century AD and was a prominent figure in the Neoplatonic school of thought. Another was Chimere of Seleucia, a Syrian-Greek mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 5th century AD and made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry.
During the Renaissance period, there was Chimere Piccolomini, an Italian noblewoman born in 1499, who was known for her patronage of the arts and her influential salon in Rome. In the 17th century, Chimere de la Touche was a French author and playwright who wrote several comedic plays that were popular in her time.
More recently, there was Chimere Diop, a Senegalese writer and activist born in 1923, who was a prominent figure in the Negritude literary movement and advocated for African cultural independence. Her works explored themes of identity, colonialism, and the African diaspora.
People
Chimere + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chimere 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
Chimere: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chimere?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 778 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chimere 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 440,558 US residents.
Is Chimere a common name?
We classify Chimere as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 829 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chimere most popular?
The single biggest year for Chimere was 1980, when 167 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chimere is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chimere in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 753 people with the name Chimere, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,320 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 Chimere 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 Chimere?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chimere leans strongly female. 692 people counted with this name were female (92.0%), compared with 60 male bearers (8.0%). 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 Chimere?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chimere is Black at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.9%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Chimere most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Chimere in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (696 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 Chimere in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chimere a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Chimere 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 Chimere still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chimere 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 Chimere 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 Chimere?
Find out how many Americans are named Chimere on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.