Chanda
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "the bright moon".
Name Census estimates that about 5,518 living Americans carry the first name Chanda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chanda today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chanda births was 1976 (418 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chanda. 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 Chanda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.5K
~ 1 in 62,116 Americans
Peak year
1976
418 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1988 SSA rank
#7,451
Tracked since 1947
Census
Chanda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,652 people with the first name Chanda, which placed it at #3,617 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
#3,617
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,652 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chanda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chanda is White at 50.7%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.7%). 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 Chanda 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 Chanda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.7% · 2,868
- Black or African American28.5% · 1,612
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.7% · 715
- Two or more races4.5% · 255
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 124
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 78
Gender
Gender distribution for Chanda
Out of the 6,094 babies given the name Chanda 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.
Chanda as a male name
- Ranked #7,451 in 1988
- 5 male births in 1988
- Peak: 1975 (6 births)
Chanda as a female name
- Ranked #13,993 in 2009
- 7 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1976 (418 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chanda leans strongly female. 5,555 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 103 male bearers (1.8%).
Popularity
Chanda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chanda from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 3,408 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chanda 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 Chanda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chandas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Chanda, while Oregon, New Mexico, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 98 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chanda
The name Chanda has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was the root of many modern Indian languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "chandra," which means "moon" or "luminous." The name has been in use for centuries in various regions of the Indian subcontinent, particularly in the northern parts of the country.
In Hindu mythology, Chandra is the name of the moon god, who is often depicted as a handsome young man riding a chariot drawn by white horses. The name is associated with beauty, grace, and tranquility, making it a popular choice for newborns, especially girls.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chanda can be found in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a warrior princess who fought alongside the Pandavas. This epic is believed to have been composed between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, providing evidence of the name's long-standing history.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chanda. One of the most famous was Chanda Sahib, an 18th-century Indian military leader and ruler of the Carnatic region (now part of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh). He played a significant role in the Carnatic Wars against the British East India Company between 1746 and 1752.
Another prominent figure was Chanda Kochhar, an Indian banker who served as the Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank, one of India's largest private sector banks, from 2009 to 2018. She was born in 1961 and was one of the most powerful and influential women in the Indian corporate sector during her tenure.
In the realm of literature, Chanda Chakravarti was a renowned Bengali poet and writer who lived from 1938 to 2018. She was known for her powerful and evocative poetry, which explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition.
The name Chanda has also been associated with several historical figures in the field of music and dance. Chanda Shrestha, a Nepali classical dancer and choreographer born in 1964, is credited with popularizing Nepalese folk dances on the international stage.
Lastly, Chanda Gunn, an American ice hockey goaltender, made history by becoming the first African-American woman to play on the United States women's national ice hockey team in the 2000s. She was born in 1981 and represented the United States in multiple international tournaments, including the Olympic Games.
People
Chanda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chanda 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
Chanda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chanda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,518 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chanda 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 62,116 US residents.
Is Chanda a common name?
We classify Chanda as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,094 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chanda most popular?
The single biggest year for Chanda was 1976, when 418 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chanda is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chanda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,652 people with the name Chanda, or 1.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,617 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 Chanda 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 Chanda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chanda leans strongly female. 5,555 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 103 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Chanda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chanda is White at 50.7%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.7%). 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 Chanda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chanda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.7% (2,868 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 Chanda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chanda a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Chanda 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 Chanda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chanda 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 Chanda 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 common is the name Chanda?
See how many people have the name Chanda on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.