Cherokee
About Cherokee
Cherokee is the name of a Native American tribe, the largest in the United States stretching from North Carolina through Oklahoma. The meaning of the word Cherokee is uncertain: It may be Choctaw for "those who live in the mountains" or "those who live in the cave country" or it may be an Anglicization of the word the Cherokee use to refer to themselves, Tsalagi. The name was given to 19 baby girls in the U.S. in 2013 but was not recorded on the boys' roster, though we'd consider it a gender neutral name.
Pronounced CHER-uh-kee.
As of October 2026, Cherokee ranked #13556 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #1261 in 1995.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #4,681 | 30 | 16.8 |
| 2015 | #4,616 | 30 | 16.8 |
| 2016 | #3,532 | 44 | 24.8 |
| 2017 | #4,502 | 31 | 18 |
| 2018 | #4,255 | 33 | 19.4 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | #4,910 | 26 | 16.1 |
| 2021 | #4,862 | 27 | 16.5 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Cherokee.
- Asencion
- Melona
- California
- Morocco
- Diva
- Chambray
- Sequoyah
- Camera
- Galaxia
- Porsche
- Heiress
- Crystel
- Lovely
- Bolivia
- Icy
- Perfecta
- Music
- Cloudy
- Saki
- Rosary
Cherokee on lists
Famous Cherokees
- Cherokee Pearce
Miss Oklahoma Teen USA 2015
Cherokee in pop culture
- Cherokee Bat
Weetzie's daughter in "Weetzie Bat" (1989) by Francesca Lia Block
- Jeep Cherokee
a car