Chandar
A masculine name derived from the Sanskrit meaning "lustrous" or "shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 23 living Americans carry the first name Chandar. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Chandar today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chandar births was 1973 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chandar. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Chandar. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
23
~ 1 in 14,902,363 Americans
Peak year
1973
18 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1973 SSA rank
#2,738
Tracked since 1972
Census
Chandar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 152 people with the first name Chandar, which placed it at #44,992 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
#44,992
National first-name rank
People counted
152
152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chandar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chandar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.9%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Chandar 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 Chandar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander52.6% · 80
- Black or African American28.9% · 44
- Two or more races6.6% · 10
- White5.3% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Chandar
Chandar is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 25 total registrations, 13 (52.0%) were male and 12 (48.0%) were female.
Chandar as a male name
- Ranked #2,738 in 1973
- 13 male births in 1973
- Peak: 1973 (13 births)
Chandar as a female name
- Ranked #8,610 in 1973
- 5 female births in 1973
- Peak: 1972 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chandar on both sides of the split. Of the 144 people counted with this name, 101 were male (70.1%) and 43 were female (29.9%).
Popularity
Chandar: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Chandar 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 Chandar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 13 | 12 | 25 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Chandar
The name Chandar has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent, where Sanskrit was the predominant language used for religious and literary purposes.
The word "Chandar" is derived from the Sanskrit word "Chandra," which means "moon" or "the one who illuminates." This name can be traced back to ancient Hindu mythology, where Chandra is the name of the moon god, also known as Soma. In the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, Chandra is often mentioned and praised for his beauty and radiance.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Chandar can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem composed between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. In the epic, there is a character named Chandragupta, which means "the one who is protected by the moon." This name was later adopted by the founder of the Maurya Empire, Chandragupta Maurya, who ruled from 321 to 297 BCE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Chandar or its variations. One such person was Chandragupta II, also known as Vikramaditya, who was an emperor of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE. He is credited with ushering in the Golden Age of India, a period of great cultural and intellectual achievements.
Another famous Chandar was Chandra Shekhar Azad, an Indian revolutionary who played a pivotal role in the Indian independence movement against British rule in the early 20th century. He was born in 1906 and was known for his bravery and unwavering commitment to the cause of Indian freedom.
In the field of literature, one notable figure was Chandar Bhushan Gupta, an Indian poet and writer who lived from 1894 to 1960. He was renowned for his contributions to Hindi literature and was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors, in 1954.
A more recent example is Chandra Babu Naidu, an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004 and again from 2014 to 2019. He was born in 1950 and is known for his efforts to promote economic development and improve infrastructure in the state.
While the name Chandar has its roots in ancient Indian culture and mythology, it has transcended geographical boundaries and is now used across various regions and communities around the world.
People
Chandar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chandar 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
Chandar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chandar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chandar 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 14,902,363 US residents.
Is Chandar a common name?
We classify Chandar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 42.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chandar most popular?
The single biggest year for Chandar was 1973, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chandar is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chandar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 152 people with the name Chandar, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,992 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 Chandar 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 Chandar?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chandar on both sides of the split. Of the 144 people counted with this name, 101 were male (70.1%) and 43 were female (29.9%). 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 Chandar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chandar is Asian/Pacific Islander at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.9%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Chandar most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Chandar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (80 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 Chandar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chandar a male name?
Yes, 52.0% of people registered as Chandar in the SSA data are male. 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 Chandar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chandar 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 Chandar 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 Chandar?
You can see how many people share the name Chandar on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.