Cyndi
A modern feminine name derived from Cynthia, meaning "of Mount Cynthus".
Name Census estimates that about 3,014 living Americans carry the first name Cyndi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cyndi today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cyndi births was 1959 (230 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cyndi. 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 Cyndi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.0K
~ 1 in 113,721 Americans
Peak year
1959
230 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,758
Tracked since 1946
Census
Cyndi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,930 people with the first name Cyndi, which placed it at #3,495 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
#3,495
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,930 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cyndi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cyndi is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Cyndi 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 Cyndi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.5% · 4,534
- Hispanic or Latino12.2% · 721
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 289
- Two or more races3.1% · 184
- Black or African American2.4% · 141
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 61
Popularity
Cyndi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cyndi from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,273 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cyndi 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 Cyndi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cyndis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Cyndi, while Wisconsin, Louisiana, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cyndi
The given name Cyndi is a diminutive form of the feminine name Cynthia, which has its origins in Greek mythology. Cynthia was an epithet of the Greek moon goddess Artemis, derived from Mount Cynthus on the island of Delos, where she was born. The name Cynthia was often used in ancient Greek poetry to refer to the moon itself.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cynthia can be found in the works of the Roman poet Propertius, who lived in the 1st century BC. He addressed several of his elegies to a woman named Cynthia, believed to be his lover or muse. The name was also popular among the ancient Romans, particularly in aristocratic families.
In the medieval period, the name Cynthia was occasionally used in literary works, although it was not as common as other names of Greek origin. One notable example is the character Cynthia in the 16th-century pastoral romance "The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia" by Sir Philip Sidney.
The diminutive form Cyndi emerged in the 20th century as a shortened version of Cynthia. One of the earliest notable individuals with this spelling was Cyndi Lauper, the American singer-songwriter born in 1953, known for her distinctive vocal style and hits like "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time."
Another famous Cyndi was Cyndi Daubenspeck, an American professional wrestler better known by her ring name Cyndi Lauper (no relation to the singer), who competed in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the literary world, Cyndi Hayashi is a Japanese-American author known for her works exploring issues of identity and cultural assimilation, such as the novel "Millicent Min, Girl Genius" published in 2003.
Cyndi Shaffstall, born in 1972, is an American former professional basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for several teams, including the Sacramento Monarchs and the Seattle Storm.
Cyndi Mayo, born in 1962, is an American actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films, including "Alien Resurrection" and "The Sopranos."
While the name Cyndi is more commonly found in recent times, it has its roots in ancient Greek mythology and literature, reflecting the enduring influence of classical culture on modern naming practices.
People
Cyndi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cyndi 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
Cyndi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cyndi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,014 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cyndi 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 113,721 US residents.
Is Cyndi a common name?
We classify Cyndi as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,568 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cyndi most popular?
The single biggest year for Cyndi was 1959, when 230 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cyndi is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cyndi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,930 people with the name Cyndi, or 1.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,495 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 Cyndi 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 Cyndi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cyndi appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,934 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Cyndi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cyndi is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Cyndi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cyndi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (4,534 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 Cyndi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cyndi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cyndi 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 Cyndi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cyndi 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 Cyndi 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 common is the name Cyndi?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Cyndi at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.