Name Awesome

Cheng

#12,385 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Completed, finished, succeeded or sincere, honest, true

Cheng has been given to 684 babies in the U.S. since 1979. In 2025 it ranked #12,385 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1990, with 42 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 94% boys, 6% girls all-time.

Babies named Cheng, 2025

1 in 663,000

Cheng over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Cheng over time

In 2025, Cheng went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19792025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Cheng: meaning, origin, and history

Completed, finished, succeeded or sincere, honest, true

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cheng means

Cheng means “completed, finished, succeeded or sincere, honest, true”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Cheng is used in Chinese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ʈ͡ʂʰəŋ/ for Cheng.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 646 boys were recorded with the name Cheng between 1979 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 42 in 1990; its best national rank was #1,674 in 1985.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,699 in 2020 to #12,385 in 2025.

In the United States, 38 girls were recorded with the name Cheng between 1984 and 1997. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1988; its best national rank was #9,449 in 1988.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Cheng?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#12,385
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cheng sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cheng. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Chengs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cheng was born before 1991 — so the typical Cheng is around 34 today.

Median birth year
1991
About 34 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
40.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
17.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
646
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 40.1% of all recorded uses (259).

Is Cheng rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,199
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−5,686
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
11.9%
Peak was 1990 (42)
Years since peak
35
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,674
1985

Spellings of Cheng

Cheng is not the most common spelling — Cohen is, with 48.2% against Cheng's 1.4%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Cheng is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Cheng was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 66,728 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in 100,000).

13 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 33,333
  2. 2Wisconsin1 in 50,000
  3. 3California1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Cheng has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Cheng is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Cheng was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 3,202,555 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Cheng has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Cheng around the world

Where Cheng ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2005–2019
    #4,702
    in 2019
  • France
    1981–1990
    #3,023
    in 1990
  • Canada
    1998–2018
    #2,905
    in 2018
  • South Australia
    1991–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Cheng by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#12,385
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 5,686
Best rank ever
#1,674
1985
Peak year
1990
42 that year
First recorded
1979
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
646
Count in 2025
5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#9,449
1988
Peak year
1988
7 that year
First recorded
1984
Last recorded
1997
All-time count
38
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Cheng

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ChettCheikhCheskyChetanCheskelChestonChevyCheickCheyneCheemengCherylDengCheCheeChesleyPhengChevisChetCherifChelseaChevelleChezkyChenMeng

Sibling names for Cheng

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Cheng

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