Cienna
A feminine name of American origin meaning "burnt orange color".
Name Census estimates that about 2,924 living Americans carry the first name Cienna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cienna today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cienna births was 2006 (194 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cienna. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cienna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Cienna is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 117,221 Americans
Peak year
2006
194 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,922
Tracked since 1988
Census
Cienna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,153 people with the first name Cienna, which placed it at #7,162 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
#7,162
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,153 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cienna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cienna is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.5%) and Two or More Races (11.6%). 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 Cienna 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 Cienna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.4% · 913
- Hispanic or Latino30.5% · 657
- Two or more races11.6% · 249
- Black or African American9.9% · 213
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 73
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 48
Popularity
Cienna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cienna from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,143 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Cienna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cienna 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 Cienna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ciennas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Cienna, while Nevada, North Carolina, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 61 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cienna
The name Cienna has its origins in the Celtic language, specifically the Gaelic branch. It is believed to have derived from the Irish Gaelic word "cian," which means "ancient" or "enduring." This name first appeared in ancient Irish texts and records dating back to the 5th century AD, during the early medieval period in Ireland.
Cienna was a relatively uncommon name in its early days, primarily used by Irish families with strong ties to their Celtic heritage. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, where a woman named Cienna is mentioned as a notable figure in the year 716 AD.
As the centuries passed, the name Cienna gradually spread beyond Ireland's borders, carried by Irish emigrants to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas. One notable figure bearing this name was Cienna McCourt (1845-1919), an Irish-American activist and pioneer in the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
In the 19th century, the name also found its way into literature, with Cienna being the name of a central character in the novel "The Cloister and the Hearth" by Charles Reade, published in 1861. This literary reference may have contributed to the name's increased popularity during that era.
Another notable bearer of the name was Cienna Dunleavy (1887-1968), an Irish writer and poet who was a prominent figure in the Irish literary renaissance of the early 20th century. Her works celebrated the rich cultural heritage of Ireland and helped preserve its traditions and folklore.
In more recent times, the name Cienna has been adopted by families of various cultural backgrounds, drawn to its unique sound and Celtic roots. One example is Cienna Sanchez (born 1981), a Mexican-American actress known for her roles in several television series and films.
While the name Cienna has its origins in ancient Irish culture, it has transcended its Celtic roots and become a name with global appeal, embraced by individuals from diverse backgrounds who appreciate its rich history and enduring quality.
People
Cienna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cienna 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
Cienna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cienna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,924 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cienna 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 117,221 US residents.
Is Cienna a common name?
We classify Cienna as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,960 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cienna most popular?
The single biggest year for Cienna was 2006, when 194 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cienna is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cienna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,153 people with the name Cienna, or 0.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,162 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 Cienna 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 Cienna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cienna appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,151 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 Cienna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cienna is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.5%) and Two or More Races (11.6%). 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 Cienna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cienna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.4% (913 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 Cienna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cienna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cienna 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 Cienna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cienna 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 Cienna 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 share the name Cienna?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.