Cynthea
Feminine variant of Cynthia, derived from the Greek epithet Kynthia for Artemis, goddess of the Moon.
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Cynthea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cynthea today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cynthea births was 1958 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cynthea. 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
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
1958
14 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2006 SSA rank
#13,924
Tracked since 1948
Census
Cynthea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 353 people with the first name Cynthea, which placed it at #26,378 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
#26,378
National first-name rank
People counted
353
353 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cynthea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cynthea is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Cynthea 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 Cynthea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.4% · 245
- Black or African American11.9% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 40
- Two or more races4.0% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Cynthea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cynthea from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 104 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cynthea 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 Cynthea 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 Cynthea
The name Cynthea finds its origins in Greek mythology, derived from the epithet of the moon goddess Artemis, who was also known as Cynthia. The name is believed to have originated from Mount Cynthus on the island of Delos, where Artemis was born and worshipped.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cynthea can be found in the works of ancient Roman poets such as Ovid and Propertius, who often referred to the moon goddess using this epithet. In Ovid's "Metamorphoses," the name is used to personify the moon itself.
During the Renaissance period, the name Cynthea gained popularity as a poetic name associated with the moon and its celestial beauty. English poet Sir Philip Sidney used the name for the central female character in his famous sonnet sequence "Astrophel and Stella," published in 1591.
In the 17th century, the name Cynthea was occasionally used by English and French aristocratic families, although it remained relatively uncommon. One notable bearer of the name was Cynthea Sackville, Countess of Dorset (1590-1624), an English noblewoman known for her beauty and literary patronage.
As the fascination with classical mythology continued in the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Cynthea appeared in various literary works and operas. German composer Carl Maria von Weber's opera "Der Freischütz" (1821) featured a character named Cynthea, further popularizing the name in certain circles.
Other notable individuals named Cynthea include Cynthea Phillipsborne (1813-1888), an American educator and activist, and Cynthea Harelda (1862-1935), a British novelist and playwright.
While the name Cynthea has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has maintained a connection to its mythological roots and has been associated with poetic and artistic expressions related to the moon and its celestial symbolism.
People
Cynthea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cynthea 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
Cynthea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cynthea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cynthea 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 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Cynthea a common name?
We classify Cynthea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 287 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cynthea most popular?
The single biggest year for Cynthea was 1958, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cynthea is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cynthea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 353 people with the name Cynthea, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,378 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 Cynthea 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 Cynthea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cynthea appears almost entirely female. Of the 358 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Cynthea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cynthea is White at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Black (11.9%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Cynthea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cynthea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (245 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 Cynthea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cynthea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cynthea 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 Cynthea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cynthea 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 Cynthea 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 Cynthea?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.