Chandni
A feminine name of Hindi origin meaning "moonlight" or "moonbeam".
Name Census estimates that about 387 living Americans carry the first name Chandni. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chandni today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chandni births was 1992 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chandni. 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 Chandni with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
387
~ 1 in 885,670 Americans
Peak year
1992
39 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2007 SSA rank
#18,182
Tracked since 1985
Census
Chandni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 893 people with the first name Chandni, which placed it at #13,490 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
#13,490
National first-name rank
People counted
893
893 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
93.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chandni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chandni is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Chandni 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 Chandni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander93.4% · 834
- White2.0% · 18
- Two or more races1.9% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 12
- Black or African American1.1% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Chandni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chandni from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 252 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Chandni remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chandni 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 Chandni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chandnis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New Jersey, Illinois recorded the most babies named Chandni, while Illinois, New Jersey, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chandni
Chandni is a feminine given name with origins in the Sanskrit and Hindi languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Chandra," which means "moon." The name Chandni is believed to have emerged during the medieval period in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regions where Sanskrit and its derived languages were widely spoken.
This name holds significance in Hindu mythology, where the moon is revered as a celestial deity. In ancient Hindu texts, such as the Vedas and Puranas, the moon god is often referred to as Chandra or Chandrama. The name Chandni is a poetic way of associating a person with the beauty and radiance of the moon.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chandni can be found in the 16th-century Braj Bhasha poetry of the Krishna devotional tradition. Poets like Surdas and Mirabai used the name Chandni as a metaphor for the divine feminine or as a descriptor for the beloved.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chandni. One prominent figure was Chandni Begum (1711-1793), a beloved wife of the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah and a renowned patron of arts and architecture. Another was Chandni Lall (1887-1942), an Indian actress and dancer who was a pioneer of early Indian cinema.
In the realm of literature, Chandni Lokuge (born 1948) is a Sri Lankan-Australian author and academic, known for her novels and short stories exploring themes of migration and identity. Chandni Jaffar (born 1949) is a distinguished Indian classical vocalist and Padma Shri recipient, renowned for her contributions to Hindustani music.
More recently, Chandni Kapoor (born 1987) is an Indian actress and model who has appeared in various Bollywood films and television shows. These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Chandni throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields.
People
Chandni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chandni 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
Chandni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chandni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 387 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chandni 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 885,670 US residents.
Is Chandni a common name?
We classify Chandni as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 400 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chandni most popular?
The single biggest year for Chandni was 1992, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chandni is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chandni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 893 people with the name Chandni, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,490 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 Chandni 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 Chandni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chandni appears almost entirely female. Of the 898 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Chandni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chandni is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Chandni most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Chandni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.4% (834 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 Chandni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chandni a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chandni 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 Chandni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chandni 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 Chandni 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 Chandni?
You can see how many people share the name Chandni on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.