Cindy

C3I1N1D2Y4
Canada, US/ˈsɪndi/

proper noun

A diminutive of the female given name Cynthia and Lucinda; also used as a formal female given name.

CommonScrabble 11

Meanings

proper nounCindy (plural Cindys or Cindies)

plural Cindys · plural Cindies · alternative Cindi · alternative Cindie · alternative Cyndi · alternative Cyndie · alternative Cyndy

  1. A diminutive of the female given name Cynthia and Lucinda; also used as a formal female given name.

    'Cindy sounds nice.' 'She is.' 'Is that her real name? Like the doll?' 'Aye, but with a C. C-I-N-D-Y.' 'Isn't that how the doll's spelled?' 'No, the doll has an S.'

    2010, James Robertson, And the Land Lay Still, Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 95
    4 more examples

    Cindy came in lugging my trunk, assisted by an elderly servant-woman - - - ["]You may go, Tabitha, to your spinning, and you, Lucinda, bring up a pitcher of water for Miss Mary," said Mrs. Hardinge.

    1849, Godey's Magazine, volume 39, page 55

    Now, you must know that Cinderella had a godmother, - - - . The little old lady sat down upon a small log of wood on the opposite side, and said ,― "Why, Cindy, my darling, you have been crying?"

    1870, George Cruikshank, George Cruikshank's Fairy Library, page 10

    Her twin daughters were on the playground equipment. Cynthia and Melinda, reduced to Cindy and Mindy, as Carella had dreaded would happen from the moment she named them.

    1999, Ed McBain, The Big Bad City, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 139

    A woman using the byline Cindy Steinberg has previously published Substack posts under the username "Radical Reflections." However, it's unclear if the woman in the TikTok screenshot is the same person or whether she has made any public comments celebrating or otherwise dismissing the Texas floods, which have left over 100 people dead.

    2025 July 8, Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, “Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot goes on an antisemitic rant”, in Business Insider

Origin

Shortened from Lucinda and Cinderella. In the 20th century adopted as a pet form of Cynthia.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Cindy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cindy

MLA

“Cindy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cindy. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cindy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cindy.

Source: Cindy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.