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Cinderella
How to Pronounce Cinderella
Pronounced sin-duh-REL-uh /ˌsɪndəˈrɛlə/Medium
Meaning: Cinderella entered use straight from the fairy tale, whose heroine's name is an English rendering of French Cendrillon, built on cendre, 'ashes' or 'cinders', with a diminutive ending. The literal sense is roughly 'little girl of the ashes', a nod to the story's hearth-sweeping opening. American parents who chose it in the early twentieth century were naming a real daughter after a beloved storybook figure, not coining an abstract word.Medium
Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data
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
Cinderella comes directly from the fairy tale popularized by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, whose heroine's name renders French Cendrillon, from cendre, 'ashes'. A handful of American families gave it as a warm, storybook first name to daughters born in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In United States records it was never common, reaching only a couple dozen girls a year even at its early-twentieth-century high around 1922, and fading afterward. A woman named Cinderella at that peak would belong to a great-grandmother's generation now, and the name still reads as a fond fairy-tale tribute rather than an everyday choice.
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Frequently Asked
What does the name Cinderella mean?
It means 'little cinder girl', from French cendre, 'ashes', by way of the fairy-tale heroine.
How do you pronounce Cinderella?
It's said sin-duh-REL-uh /ˌsɪndəˈrɛlə/, four syllables, stress on the third.
Is Cinderella a boy or girl name?
Cinderella is used as a girl's name.
Is Cinderella a popular name?
No, it has always been rare as a given name, seeing only faint storybook-inspired use in the early twentieth century.