How rare is the name Cheng?

5,656 people in the United States have the first name Cheng, about 1 in 53,400. It ranks #3,615 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

CHENG

#3,615

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
5,656
About
1 in 53,400
This common or more
82.7%
Who bears it

Of the 5,656 people named Cheng, 97.6% reported their origin as Asian or Pacific Islander and 1.4% as White. 76.2% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Cheng peaked in 1990, when 48 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19792025
Peak year
1990
Births that year
48
In 2025*
5 ▼90%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 684 babies have been given the name since 1979. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Cheng by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1980s, when it ranked #5,365. The largest share of babies named Cheng, 70.5%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1970s#21,9299
1980s#5,365261
1990s#6,249285
2000s#19,20976
2010s#32,02824
2020s#23,42329
Generation X 1965–803.2%
Millennials 1981–9670.5%
Generation Z 1997–1219.6%
2013 and later6.7%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Exactly as common as Cheng

1 other first name also has 5,656 people.

#3,615 Malika · 5,656

Either side of Cheng

#3,613 Chanda · 5,658#3,614 Zulma · 5,657#3,615 Malika · 5,656#3,617 Iesha · 5,650

Spelled almost the same

7 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Cheng, most common first.

#2,386 Chong · 10,492#3,056 Chang · 7,243#3,485 Chung · 5,952#5,756 Ching · 2,899#21,118 Cheung · 484#26,868 Cheong · 344#36,185 Chheng · 220

Also a last name

As a last name, Cheng ranks #865 of 156,621, with 39,305 people. See Cheng as a last name

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