Sandi
A feminine name of English origin meaning "sandy or short for Sandra".
Name Census estimates that about 8,113 living Americans carry the first name Sandi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sandi today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sandi births was 1959 (368 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sandi. 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 Sandi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.1K
~ 1 in 42,248 Americans
Peak year
1959
368 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2001 SSA rank
#10,323
Tracked since 1934
Census
Sandi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,985 people with the first name Sandi, which placed it at #2,471 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
#2,471
National first-name rank
People counted
10.0K
9,985 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sandi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sandi is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and Black (3.6%). 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 Sandi 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 Sandi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.4% · 8,030
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 878
- Black or African American3.6% · 355
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 347
- Two or more races2.9% · 289
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 86
Gender
Gender distribution for Sandi
Out of the 10,117 babies given the name Sandi since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Sandi as a male name
- Ranked #10,323 in 2001
- 6 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1999 (8 births)
Sandi as a female name
- Ranked #17,206 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1959 (368 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sandi leans strongly female. 9,777 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 206 male bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Sandi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sandi from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 3,103 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
Sandi 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 Sandi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sandis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Sandi, while West Virginia, South Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 158 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sandi
The name Sandi is a diminutive form of the feminine name Sandra, which originated from the Greek name Alexandra. It is derived from the Greek word "alexo," meaning "to defend" or "to protect," and "andros," meaning "man" or "warrior." The name Alexandra was thus intended to convey the meaning of "defender of man" or "protector of mankind."
Sandi gained popularity as a shortened form of Sandra in the early 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. It is believed to have emerged as a casual or affectionate nickname for Sandra during this period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sandi can be found in the 1922 novel "The Glimpse of Life" by American author Edna Ferber, where one of the characters is named Sandi. This suggests that the name was already in use, at least informally, in the early 1900s.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Sandi. One prominent figure was Sandi Patty (born 1956), an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s. She is known for her powerful vocals and has won multiple Grammy and Dove Awards.
Another notable Sandi was Sandi Toksvig (born 1958), a Danish-British comedian, writer, and broadcaster. She has hosted several popular TV shows in the UK, including "QI" and "The Great British Bake Off," and is known for her wit and humor.
In the world of sports, Sandi Morris (born 1992) is an American pole vaulter who won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She has also won multiple gold medals at various international competitions, including the World Indoor Championships.
Sandi Tan (born 1972) is a Singaporean filmmaker and writer, best known for her critically acclaimed documentary "Shirkers" (2018), which won numerous awards and received widespread acclaim for its exploration of creativity, memory, and the power of storytelling.
Lastly, Sandi Patty (born 1959), an American actress and singer, is notable for her role as Rachel Newton in the Broadway production of "Children of Eden" in the late 1990s. She has also released several albums and has performed in various concerts and stage productions throughout her career.
People
Sandi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sandi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sandi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sandi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,113 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sandi 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 42,248 US residents.
Is Sandi a common name?
We classify Sandi as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sandi most popular?
The single biggest year for Sandi was 1959, when 368 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sandi is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sandi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,985 people with the name Sandi, or 3.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,471 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 Sandi 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 Sandi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sandi leans strongly female. 9,777 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 206 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Sandi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sandi is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and Black (3.6%). 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 Sandi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sandi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.4% (8,030 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 Sandi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sandi a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Sandi 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 Sandi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sandi 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 Sandi 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 Sandi?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Sandi at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.