Chantel
A feminine name of French origin meaning "stone" or "rock".
Name Census estimates that about 14,162 living Americans carry the first name Chantel. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chantel today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chantel births was 1990 (740 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chantel. 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 Chantel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,202 Americans
Peak year
1990
740 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1989 SSA rank
#6,970
Tracked since 1957
Census
Chantel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,006 people with the first name Chantel, which placed it at #2,085 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
#2,085
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,006 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chantel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chantel is White at 40.4%. The next largest groups are Black (34.6%) and Hispanic (14.7%). 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 Chantel 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 Chantel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.4% · 5,260
- Black or African American34.6% · 4,504
- Hispanic or Latino14.7% · 1,915
- Two or more races6.4% · 829
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 286
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 212
Gender
Gender distribution for Chantel
Out of the 14,981 babies given the name Chantel since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Chantel as a male name
- Ranked #7,091 in 1989
- 6 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (6 births)
Chantel as a female name
- Ranked #6,970 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (740 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chantel appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,006 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Chantel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chantel from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5,175 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chantel 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 Chantel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chantels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Chantel, while Arkansas, West Virginia, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 259 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chantel
The name Chantel is a French feminine form of the masculine name Chantal, which itself is derived from the Latin name Cantius. It is believed to have originated in the 3rd century AD in the region of modern-day France.
The name Cantius was a Roman family name that may have been derived from the Latin word "cantus," meaning "song" or "chant." This suggests that the original bearers of the name may have been singers, poets, or musicians.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Chantel was in the 12th century, when it was borne by a French noblewoman named Chantel de Semur. She was a prominent figure in the court of King Louis VII of France and played a role in the Second Crusade.
In the 13th century, another notable bearer of the name was Chantel de Montbéliard, a French countess who was involved in the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Verdun in 843, which divided the Carolingian Empire among the grandsons of Charlemagne.
During the Renaissance period, the name Chantel gained popularity among the French aristocracy. One famous bearer was Chantel de Rieux (1506-1584), a French noblewoman and author who wrote several works on religion and philosophy.
In the 17th century, the name was borne by Chantel de Sévigné (1626-1696), a French aristocrat and famous letter writer whose correspondences provide valuable insights into the social and cultural life of her time.
Another notable figure was Chantel de La Tour d'Auvergne (1670-1730), a French military leader and Marshal of France who played a significant role in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Throughout history, the name Chantel has been associated with women of noble birth, literary accomplishments, and military prowess. While it has retained its French roots, the name has also been adopted and adapted in various cultures around the world.
People
Chantel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chantel 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
Chantel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chantel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,162 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chantel 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 24,202 US residents.
Is Chantel a common name?
We classify Chantel as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,981 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chantel most popular?
The single biggest year for Chantel was 1990, when 740 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chantel is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chantel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,006 people with the name Chantel, or 4.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,085 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 Chantel 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 Chantel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chantel appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,006 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Chantel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chantel is White at 40.4%. The next largest groups are Black (34.6%) and Hispanic (14.7%). 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 Chantel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chantel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.4% (5,260 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 Chantel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chantel a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Chantel 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 Chantel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chantel 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 Chantel 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 have Chantel as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Chantel, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.