Candy
A sweet, sugary diminutive of Candice, from Latin candidus "white".
Name Census estimates that about 23,600 living Americans carry the first name Candy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Candy today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Candy births was 1970 (1,044 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Candy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Candy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Candy is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 100 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,523 Americans
Peak year
1970
1,044 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1994 SSA rank
#3,758
Tracked since 1896
Census
Candy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 24,302 people with the first name Candy, which placed it at #1,413 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,413
National first-name rank
People counted
24K
24,302 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Candy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Candy is White at 66.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.5%) and Black (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Candy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Candy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.4% · 16,129
- Hispanic or Latino19.5% · 4,736
- Black or African American6.2% · 1,516
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 970
- Two or more races3.0% · 741
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 210
Gender
Gender distribution for Candy
Out of the 28,595 babies given the name Candy since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Candy as a male name
- Ranked #8,985 in 1994
- 5 male births in 1994
- Peak: 1974 (11 births)
Candy as a female name
- Ranked #3,758 in 2024
- 40 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (1,044 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Candy appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,305 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Candy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Candy from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 7,573 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Candy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Candy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Candys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Candy, while Nevada, North Dakota, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 503 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Candy
The given name Candy is a modern English name that has its roots in the word "candy" itself, which refers to a sweet confection made from sugar or other sweet substances. The name likely originated in the early 20th century, as the mass production and commercialization of confectionery products became more widespread.
The word "candy" is derived from the Arabic word "qandi," which means "composed of sugar." This word was borrowed into English from the Old French "candi" or "candé," which referred to crystallized sugar. The name Candy is thought to have been inspired by the sweet and desirable qualities associated with the confection.
While the name Candy does not have a long historical lineage, it has been used as a given name for both males and females in various parts of the world. However, it is more commonly associated with female names.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Candy can be found in the 1933 American film "Roman Scandals," where a character named Candy was portrayed by actress Gloria Stuart. Another notable bearer of the name was Candy Jones (1925-1990), an American model, writer, and self-proclaimed victim of mind control experiments.
In literature, Candy is the name of a character in the 1958 novel "Candy" by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, which explored themes of sexual liberation and satire. The name Candy was also used for a character in the 1968 film of the same name, based on the novel.
Other notable individuals named Candy include:
1. Candy Darling (1944-1974), an American actress, Warhol Superstar, and pioneer of the transgender rights movement.
2. Candy Spelling (born 1945), an American author, playwright, and philanthropist, best known as the wife of television producer Aaron Spelling.
3. Candy Lightner (born 1946), an American activist and founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
4. Candy Dulfer (born 1969), a Dutch saxophonist and singer-songwriter.
5. Candy Christiano (born 1970), an American actress and model.
While the name Candy may have started as a playful and whimsical reference to the sweet confection, it has since been embraced by individuals from various backgrounds and has become a recognizable given name in its own right.
People
Candy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Candy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Candy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Candy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,600 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Candy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 14,523 US residents.
Is Candy a common name?
We classify Candy as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28,595 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Candy most popular?
The single biggest year for Candy was 1970, when 1,044 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Candy is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Candy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 24,302 people with the name Candy, or 8.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,413 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Candy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Candy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Candy appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,305 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Candy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Candy is White at 66.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.5%) and Black (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Candy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Candy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.4% (16,129 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Candy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Candy a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Candy in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Candy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Candy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Candy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Candy?
Find out how many Americans are named Candy on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.