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Home › Baby Names Directory › Cheyenna

Cheyenna

♀ Girl

Pronounced shy-EN-uh /ʃaɪˈɛn.ə/Medium

Meaning: Cheyenna is Cheyenne given an -a ending to make it read more overtly as a girl's name. Cheyenne honors the Cheyenne people of the Great Plains; the English name comes from the Dakota Sioux Šahíyena. The added vowel softens and elongates the sound while keeping the Western, Native associations.Low

In 30 seconds: Cheyenna is a feminized form of Cheyenne, the name of a Great Plains people, from a Dakota Sioux word. A soft Western coinage, it crested in the mid-1990s, around 1996.
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Origin LowEnglish, Native American
MeaningCheyenna is Cheyenne given an -a ending to make it read more overtly as a girl's name. Cheyenne honors the Cheyenne people of the Great Plains; the English name comes from the Dakota Sioux Šahíyena. The added vowel softens and elongates the sound while keeping the Western, Native associations.
U.S. rank (2014)#14973 ↘ Falling
2014 U.S. births6 girls (0.00% of U.S. girls)
Peak year1996
Total births (all-time)≈ 715

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

peak 199719782014

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Cheyenna extends Cheyenne with a final -a. The base name honors the Cheyenne nation of the northern Plains and traces through the Dakota Sioux Šahíyena; the Wyoming capital named for the tribe adds a frontier ring. In the nineties, when Western names were in vogue, the -a ending was one of many ways families personalized the sound.

Its mid-nineties crest places Cheyenna among the millennials. The whole Cheyenne cluster has cooled since, and this elaborated form has not revived — though the base Cheyenne keeps its steady appeal for parents drawn to its evocative Western character.

Did you know? Cheyenna crested around 1996 at roughly five dozen girls a year, at the height of the nineties fashion for Cheyenne and its variants. The extra -a gave parents a way to make the tribe-and-city name feel more traditionally feminine and a touch more elaborate.
Overall data confidence 50%
References — Cheyenna — feminized Cheyenne (Dakota Sioux Šahíyena); 1990s Western-name wave

Variations

CheyenneSheyannaShayanna

Nicknames

CheyeEnnaAnna

Famous Bearers

  • Famous bearers coming soon.

If you like Cheyenna…

Cheyenne— the base name this feminizes
Sienna— a like flowing -enna/-ienna girl's name of the era
Savanna— another Western-flavored -a name of the nineties
Brianna— shares the elaborated -anna feminine ending

Explore names like Cheyenna

By thememodernvarianthonornineties

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Cheyenna mean?

Cheyenna is a feminized form of Cheyenne, the name of the Cheyenne people, from the Dakota Sioux word Šahíyena.

How do you pronounce Cheyenna?

It's said shy-EN-uh — three syllables, stress in the middle.

Is Cheyenna a boy or girl name?

Cheyenna is a girl's name.

Is Cheyenna making a comeback?

No — the Cheyenne family of names, including this elaborated form, has quieted since the nineties.

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