# Chandra (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/chandra/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Sanskrit |
| Meaning | “moon” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Chander, Shandra |
| US babies named this | 17,349 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 66 / 17,283 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 10, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit चन्द्र (candrá, “moon”)

## What it means

Chandra is grouped under moon.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 43 | 3,467 |
| 2006 | 39 | 3,868 |
| 2007 | 29 | 4,983 |
| 2008 | 22 | 6,170 |
| 2009 | 23 | 5,930 |
| 2010 | 7 | 13,762 |
| 2011 | 18 | 6,915 |
| 2012 | 10 | 10,600 |
| 2013 | 13 | 8,693 |
| 2014 | 6 | 14,965 |
| 2015 | 7 | 13,300 |
| 2017 | 16 | 7,168 |
| 2018 | 6 | 14,161 |
| 2019 | 8 | 11,585 |
| 2023 | 8 | 11,394 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 8 | 3,354 |
| 1971 | 6 | 4,467 |
| 1972 | 7 | 4,038 |
| 1973 | 5 | 5,211 |
| 1975 | 6 | 4,888 |
| 1976 | 9 | 3,760 |
| 1978 | 6 | 5,155 |
| 1982 | 5 | 6,520 |
| 1984 | 9 | 4,261 |
| 1996 | 5 | 9,217 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 3 | 3,848 |
| 2000 | 4 | 3,247 |
| 2001 | 3 | 3,998 |

## People named Chandra

- Chandragupta I, 4th-century king of the Gupta Empire
- Chandra Wilson, American actress and director
- Chandra Sturrup, Bahamian athletics competitor (born 1971)
- Chandra Cheeseborough, American sprinter (born 1959)
- Chandra Crawford, Canadian cross-country skier
- Chandra Wickramasinghe, astronomer
- Chandra West, Canadian actress (b.1970)
- Chandra North, American model
- Bharatchandra Ray, Bengali writer 18th Century.

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.