Pandora
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "all-gifted" or "all-giving".
Name Census estimates that about 2,550 living Americans carry the first name Pandora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pandora today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pandora births was 1952 (132 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pandora. 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 Pandora with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 134,413 Americans
Peak year
1952
132 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,857
Tracked since 1912
Census
Pandora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,418 people with the first name Pandora, which placed it at #6,587 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
#6,587
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,418 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pandora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pandora is White at 53.9%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Pandora 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 Pandora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.9% · 1,304
- Black or African American28.5% · 689
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 185
- Two or more races4.9% · 118
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 76
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 46
Popularity
Pandora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pandora from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 660 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
Pandora 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 Pandora during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pandoras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, New York, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Pandora, while West Virginia, Alabama, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pandora
The name Pandora originates from Greek mythology, deriving its roots from the ancient Greek words "pan" meaning "all" and "doron" meaning "gift" or "endowed with". It can be translated to mean "all-gifted" or "all-endowed". The earliest known reference to the name comes from the famous Greek myth of Pandora's box, which first appeared in Hesiod's Works and Days, an ancient didactic poem written around 700 BC.
In the Greek myth, Pandora was the first woman created by the gods, crafted out of earth to punish mankind for Prometheus' theft of fire. She was given a famous jar (mistranslated as "box" in later times) filled with all the world's miseries, evils, and plagues. Her curiosity led her to open the jar, unleashing these misfortunes upon humanity, leaving only hope behind.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Pandora was Pandora of Miletus, a Greek lyric poet who lived around 600 BC. She was renowned for her poetic works, though only fragments of her compositions survive today.
In the 5th century BC, Pandora was the name of a celebrated Athenian courtesan and companion of the poet Ariphrades. She was known for her wit, intelligence, and beauty, and was even depicted on ancient Greek vase paintings.
During the 3rd century BC, Pandora was the name of a Greek princess, daughter of the Spartan King Leonidas II. She married the Seleucid King Antiochus II, cementing an alliance between the two kingdoms.
In the 1st century AD, Pandora was the name of a Roman freedwoman who lived during the reign of Emperor Nero. She was a renowned actress and mime artist, praised for her performances in ancient Roman theaters.
In the 15th century, Pandora Malatesta was an Italian noblewoman and the ruler of Rimini, known for her patronage of the arts and her Renaissance court's cultural achievements.
People
Pandora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pandora as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pandora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pandora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,550 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pandora 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 134,413 US residents.
Is Pandora a common name?
We classify Pandora as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,094 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pandora most popular?
The single biggest year for Pandora was 1952, when 132 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pandora is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pandora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,418 people with the name Pandora, or 0.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,587 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 Pandora 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 Pandora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pandora appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,414 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Pandora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pandora is White at 53.9%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Pandora most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pandora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.9% (1,304 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 Pandora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pandora a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pandora 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 Pandora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pandora 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 Pandora 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 Pandora?
Want to know how many people share the name Pandora? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.