It was discovered on 25 September 1913, by German astronomer Franz Kaiser at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany.
Cupido was named due to its relative proximity to the Sun probably by Swedish astronomer Bror Ansgar Asplind (1890–1954) who was honored by asteroid 958 Asplinda.
[12] In October 2017, a rotational lightcurve of Cupido was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Frederick Pilcher in collaboration with Vladimir Benishek at Belgrade Observatory and Daniel A. Klinglesmith at Etscorn Observatory (719).
Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 151.5±0.1 hours with a brightness variation of 0.45±0.10 magnitude (U=3-).
[11] During the same opposition, Tom Polakis at the Command Module Observatory (V02) also observed the asteroid and measured a period of 151.1±0.1 hours and an amplitude of 0.24±0.02 magnitude (U=2+).