Given name & surname
Cher
“one who is greatly loved; a darling”
Cher is used as a given name and a surname. One French interpretation is “one who is greatly loved; a darling.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One French interpretation is “one who is greatly loved; a darling.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is French.
How it developed
In English usage, Cher is a short form of Cherilyn.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1948. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Cher through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,831
- 110 boys · 1,721 girls
- Most popular year
- 1972
- 235 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −77%
- Cooling
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 235 in 1972. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,603 as a first name in 2020; 232 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Cher’s family of names
In English usage, Cher is a short form of Cherilyn. Cher has a related form in Cheri. Cher has a related form in Cherie.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 28
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Cherishvariant
- Cherievariant
- Cherivariant
- Cherilynfull form · English
- Chareavariant
- Chereavariant
- Cherreevariant
- Cheritavariant
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People named Cher
- CherAmerican musician, singer, actress and television personality (born 1946)
- Cher LloydEnglish singerborn 1993
- Cher WangTaiwanese entrepreneur and philanthropistborn 1958
- Cher ScarlettAmerican software engineer, writer, labor activist, and corporate whistleblowerborn 1985
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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