Chandler
Occupational surname meaning a maker or seller of candles or candelabras.
Name Census estimates that about 44,551 living Americans carry the first name Chandler. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Chandler today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chandler births was 1999 (2,842 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chandler. 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.
People living today
45K
~ 1 in 7,694 Americans
Peak year
1999
2,842 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#738
Tracked since 1900
Gender
Gender distribution for Chandler
Chandler is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 46,235 total registrations, 36,147 (78.2%) were male and 10,088 (21.8%) were female.
Chandler as a male name
- Ranked #738 in 2024
- 348 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (2,395 births)
Chandler as a female name
- Ranked #895 in 2024
- 297 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (744 births)
Popularity
Chandler: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chandler from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 17,394 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
Chandler 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 Chandler during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chandlers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, California recorded the most babies named Chandler, while Rhode Island, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 816 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chandler
The name Chandler is an English occupational surname that originated in the Middle Ages and later became a masculine given name. It derives from the Old French word "chandelier," which means "candlestick maker" or "candle maker." The name can be traced back to the 12th century, when it referred to individuals who made and sold candles.
In medieval times, chandlers played a crucial role in providing illumination for homes, churches, and other buildings. As their trade was considered essential, chandlers often held respected positions within their communities. The name Chandler may have initially been used to identify individuals by their occupation before becoming a hereditary surname.
One of the earliest known references to the name Chandler can be found in the Domesday Book, a record of landholdings and properties compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The book mentions several individuals with the surname Chandler, indicating the name's existence and use during the Norman period in England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Chandler. One of the most famous was Thomas Chandler (1693-1766), an English theologian and philosopher who served as Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. He was known for his extensive writings on theology and his defense of Christianity against deism.
Another prominent Chandler was Zachariah Chandler (1813-1879), an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Michigan and later as Secretary of the Interior under President Ulysses S. Grant. He played a significant role in the abolition of slavery and the reconstruction of the South after the American Civil War.
In the field of literature, Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was a renowned American novelist and screenwriter known for his influential detective fiction and for creating the iconic character Philip Marlowe. His works, such as "The Big Sleep" and "Farewell, My Lovely," are considered classics of the hardboiled genre and have had a lasting impact on crime fiction.
The name Chandler has also been associated with notable figures in other fields, such as Edward Chandler (1768-1841), an English sculptor known for his neoclassical works, and Everett Chandler (1909-1972), an American baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox in the 1930s and 1940s.
While the name Chandler has its roots in an occupational surname, it has evolved over centuries to become a respected and widely used given name in English-speaking countries. Its historical significance and association with notable individuals have contributed to its enduring popularity.
People
Chandler + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chandler 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
Chandler: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chandler?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 44,551 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chandler 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 7,694 US residents.
Is Chandler a common name?
We classify Chandler as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 46,235 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chandler most popular?
The single biggest year for Chandler was 1999, when 2,842 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chandler is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Chandler a male name?
Yes, 78.2% of people registered as Chandler 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.
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.