Cyan
A shade of greenish-blue, a combination of green and blue.
Name Census estimates that about 1,453 living Americans carry the first name Cyan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Cyan today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cyan births was 1998 (98 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cyan. 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 Cyan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Cyan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 235,894 Americans
Peak year
1998
98 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,996
Tracked since 1986
Census
Cyan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,248 people with the first name Cyan, which placed it at #10,597 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
#10,597
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,248 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
31.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cyan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cyan is White at 31.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Hispanic (23.5%). 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 Cyan 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 Cyan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White31.2% · 389
- Black or African American25.5% · 318
- Hispanic or Latino23.5% · 293
- Two or more races12.7% · 158
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.4% · 67
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Cyan
Cyan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,473 total registrations, 376 (25.5%) were male and 1,097 (74.5%) were female.
Cyan as a male name
- Ranked #2,996 in 2024
- 41 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (44 births)
Cyan as a female name
- Ranked #6,197 in 2024
- 19 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (98 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cyan leans strongly female. 1,004 people counted with this name were female (81.1%), compared with 234 male bearers (18.9%).
Popularity
Cyan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cyan 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 592 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Cyan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cyan 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 Cyan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cyans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Cyan, while Washington, Virginia, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cyan
The name Cyan has its origins in the Greek word "kyanos," which means "dark blue substance" or "blue pigment." This name likely emerged during the classical period of ancient Greece, between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, when the Greeks began exploring and developing various colors and dyes.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Cyan can be found in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher and naturalist, Theophrastus, who lived from 371 BCE to 287 BCE. In his writings, Theophrastus discussed the properties and uses of different pigments, including a blue-green pigment called "kyanos."
The name Cyan has been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Cyan of Miletus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 6th century BCE and was considered one of the seven wise men of ancient Greece.
Another historical figure with the name Cyan was Cyan of Syracuse, a Greek mathematician and engineer from the 3rd century BCE. He is credited with inventing various mechanical devices, including the Archimedean screw, which was used for irrigation and water transfer.
In the realm of literature, Cyan was the name of a character in the ancient Greek epic poem, the Argonautica, written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BCE. In the poem, Cyan was a skilled archer and one of the Argonauts who accompanied Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece.
During the Renaissance period, there was a notable Italian painter and architect named Cyan Alberti, who lived from 1404 to 1472. He was a prominent figure in the Florentine Renaissance and is known for his work on several churches and buildings in Italy.
In more recent history, Cyan was the name of a French sculptor and painter, Cyan Rodin, who lived from 1840 to 1917. He is renowned for his sculptures, such as "The Thinker" and "The Kiss," which are considered masterpieces of modern art.
While the name Cyan has its roots in ancient Greek culture, it has transcended its origins and has been used across various societies and time periods, reflecting its enduring appeal and connection to the vibrant blue-green hue.
People
Cyan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cyan 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
Cyan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cyan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,453 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cyan 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 235,894 US residents.
Is Cyan a common name?
We classify Cyan as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,473 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cyan most popular?
The single biggest year for Cyan was 1998, when 98 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cyan is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cyan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,248 people with the name Cyan, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,597 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 Cyan 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 Cyan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cyan leans strongly female. 1,004 people counted with this name were female (81.1%), compared with 234 male bearers (18.9%). 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 Cyan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cyan is White at 31.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Hispanic (23.5%). 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 Cyan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cyan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.2% (389 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 Cyan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cyan a female name?
Yes, 74.5% of people registered as Cyan 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 Cyan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cyan 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 Cyan 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 Cyan?
You can see how many people have the name Cyan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.