Chance
Chance represents good fortune or lucky opportunity.
Name Census estimates that about 54,148 living Americans carry the first name Chance. It sits at #418 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.5% of registrations). The average person named Chance today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chance births was 1996 (2,293 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chance. 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 Chance with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Chance is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,364 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
54K
~ 1 in 6,330 Americans
Peak year
1996
2,293 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#418
Tracked since 1883
Census
Chance in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 43,134 people with the first name Chance, which placed it at #998 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
#998
National first-name rank
People counted
43K
43,134 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chance
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chance is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Black (16.4%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Chance 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 Chance at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.0% · 28,898
- Black or African American16.4% · 7,072
- Two or more races7.0% · 3,027
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 2,678
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 736
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 723
Gender
Gender distribution for Chance
Chance leans heavily male at 97.5% of total registrations, but 1,364 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Chance as a male name
- Ranked #418 in 2024
- 757 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (2,243 births)
Chance as a female name
- Ranked #4,900 in 2024
- 27 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (50 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chance leans strongly male. 42,026 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 1,112 female bearers (2.6%).
Popularity
Chance: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chance from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 14,685 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Chance remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chance 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 Chance during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chances live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Chance, while New Hampshire, District of Columbia, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,062 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chance
The name Chance originates from the Old French word "chance", which means "good luck" or "fortune". It likely derives from the Latin word "cadere", meaning "to fall" or "to happen". The name gained popularity in the Middle Ages, reflecting the belief in fate and destiny.
Chance was initially used as a surname, referring to a person who was considered fortunate or lucky. Over time, it evolved into a given name, embracing the notion of serendipity and opportunity. The name's popularity grew during the Renaissance period when the concepts of chance and probability were widely explored in fields like mathematics and philosophy.
In literature, the name Chance appears in the 16th-century play "The Alchemist" by Ben Jonson, where a character named Chance symbolizes the unpredictable nature of life. Additionally, the novel "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe, published in 1722, features a character named Moll Chance, further solidifying the name's association with luck and chance encounters.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Chance as a given name dates back to the 17th century. A notable figure was Chance Dighton, an English mariner born in 1660, known for his explorations and expeditions in the South Pacific.
In the 18th century, Chance Vaughan (1731-1795) was a British politician and Member of Parliament, representing St. Michael's Borough. His name reflected the growing acceptance of Chance as a given name among the upper classes.
Moving into the 19th century, Chance Horton (1805-1868) was an American entrepreneur and industrialist who founded the Chance Brothers Glass Company, a prominent manufacturer of glass products in the United States.
Another notable figure was Chance Cravath (1855-1927), an American lawyer and jurist who served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Tennessee. His name exemplified the rise of Chance as a given name in the United States during this period.
In the 20th century, Chance Wayne (1915-1995) was an American actor and singer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and Hollywood films, showcasing the name's continued popularity in the entertainment industry.
While the name Chance has its origins rooted in concepts of fortune and serendipity, it has evolved to encompass a sense of opportunity, potential, and embracing the unexpected. Its enduring presence throughout history reflects the human fascination with the unpredictable nature of life and the belief in the power of chance encounters and events.
People
Chance + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chance 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
Chance: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chance?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 54,148 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chance 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 6,330 US residents.
Is Chance a common name?
We classify Chance as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 55,254 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chance most popular?
The single biggest year for Chance was 1996, when 2,293 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chance is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chance in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 43,134 people with the name Chance, or 14.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #998 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 Chance 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 Chance?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chance leans strongly male. 42,026 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 1,112 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Chance?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chance is White at 67.0%. The next largest groups are Black (16.4%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Chance most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chance in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.0% (28,898 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 Chance in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chance a male name?
Yes, 97.5% of people registered as Chance in the SSA data are male. 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 Chance still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chance 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 Chance 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 share the name Chance?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.