Cheyenne
Meaning
from the name of the Cheyenne people, from Sioux 'Sahiyena'
The story
Cheyenne is the name of the Cheyenne people of the Great Plains, which reached English through Sioux Sahiyena, and as a given name it asks for the respect the history deserves. It enters the US record in the 1940s and stays quiet for decades before the 1990s western revival lifts it to a peak across the 1990s and 2000s, the same years Dakota and Sierra became classroom names. It has eased since but remains steadily used. The word's own music is the draw, three open syllables with wind in them, and the name works best carried the way the record shows it: as a borrowed name from a living nation, not an invention. That framing matters more here than with most names: the respect is part of the name, not an add-on.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Cheyenne peaked in the 1990s and the 2000s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
224 people · the #23,438 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 31
Among people named Cheyenne living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Cheyenne
Most people given the name Cheyenne in the United States were born between 1990 and 2009. The Cheyenne you meet today is most often in her 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Cheyenne deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Cheyenne truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Cheyenne fits with your family’s names and surname.
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