Kassandra
A feminine name of Greek origin, meaning "she who entangles men".
Name Census estimates that about 32,269 living Americans carry the first name Kassandra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kassandra today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kassandra births was 1993 (2,742 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kassandra. 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 Kassandra with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
32K
~ 1 in 10,622 Americans
Peak year
1993
2,742 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
1995 SSA rank
#1,217
Tracked since 1945
Census
Kassandra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 26,107 people with the first name Kassandra, which placed it at #1,365 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
#1,365
National first-name rank
People counted
26K
26,107 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
54.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kassandra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kassandra is Hispanic at 54.7%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Kassandra 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 Kassandra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino54.7% · 14,282
- White36.2% · 9,458
- Black or African American3.8% · 994
- Two or more races3.0% · 783
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 454
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 136
Gender
Gender distribution for Kassandra
Out of the 33,328 babies given the name Kassandra since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Kassandra as a male name
- Ranked #9,599 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1993 (11 births)
Kassandra as a female name
- Ranked #1,217 in 2024
- 193 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (2,731 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kassandra appears almost entirely female. Of the 26,111 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kassandra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kassandra from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 14,545 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
Kassandra 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 Kassandra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kassandras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kassandra, while District of Columbia, Louisiana, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 621 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kassandra
The name Kassandra originates from ancient Greek and is derived from the elements "kekastai" meaning "to shine" and "aner" meaning "man". This suggests the name originally meant something along the lines of "shining upon men". It dates back to ancient Greek mythology, where Kassandra was a Trojan princess gifted with prophecy by Apollo but cursed never to be believed.
In Homer's Iliad, Kassandra foresaw the fall of Troy and tried in vain to warn the Trojans of the Greek warriors hiding in the Trojan Horse. She was taken as a concubine by Agamemnon after the war. In Aeschylus' tragedy Agamemnon, she was killed by Clytemnestra along with Agamemnon upon their return to Argos. The name thus carries associations of prophecy, tragedy, and being unheeded.
The earliest recorded example of the name dates back to around the 8th century BCE. Byzantine historian Michael Psellos referred to a woman named Kassandra in the 11th century CE. Italian scholar Cassandra Fedele (1465-1558) was one of the first renowned female humanists of the Renaissance.
Other notable historical figures named Kassandra include Cassandra Austen (1773-1845), the sister of novelist Jane Austen; Cassandra Hodges (1637-1670), a Quaker minister; and Cassandra Brydges (1670-1735), a member of the English aristocracy and diarist. Cassandra Veninga (1783-1854) was a Dutch poet.
The Greek form Kassandra has historically been more commonly used than variants like Cassandra found in English and other languages. However, all forms ultimately derive from the same ancient Greek root name associated with the mythological figure of the Trojan princess.
People
Kassandra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kassandra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kassandra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kassandra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32,269 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kassandra 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 10,622 US residents.
Is Kassandra a common name?
We classify Kassandra as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33,328 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kassandra most popular?
The single biggest year for Kassandra was 1993, when 2,742 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kassandra is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kassandra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 26,107 people with the name Kassandra, or 8.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,365 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 Kassandra 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 Kassandra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kassandra appears almost entirely female. Of the 26,111 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kassandra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kassandra is Hispanic at 54.7%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Kassandra most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Kassandra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.7% (14,282 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 Kassandra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kassandra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kassandra 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 Kassandra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kassandra 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 Kassandra 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 Kassandra?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.