Chantal
Feminine French name derived from the Latin cantus meaning "song".
Name Census estimates that about 7,968 living Americans carry the first name Chantal. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chantal today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chantal births was 1990 (428 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chantal. 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
8.0K
~ 1 in 43,016 Americans
Peak year
1990
428 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1989 SSA rank
#6,319
Tracked since 1947
Gender
Gender distribution for Chantal
Out of the 8,453 babies given the name Chantal since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Chantal as a male name
- Ranked #6,319 in 1989
- 7 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (7 births)
Chantal as a female name
- Ranked #6,661 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (428 births)
Popularity
Chantal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chantal from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,738 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
Chantal 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 Chantal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chantals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Chantal, while Maine, Iowa, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 161 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chantal
The name Chantal is a French feminine form of the Late Latin name Cantianus, which was derived from the Latin word cantus, meaning "song" or "singer". It originated in ancient Gaul, the region that is now modern-day France, and was likely first used as a given name during the early Middle Ages.
The name Chantal has its roots in the name of Saint Cantianus, a Christian martyr who was executed in Aquileia, an ancient Roman city located in what is now northeastern Italy, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian in the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. Saint Cantianus and his companions were venerated as early Christian martyrs, and their names became popular among the Christian faithful in the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chantal can be found in the life of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, a French Catholic nun and founder of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, who lived from 1572 to 1641. She was a prominent figure in the Catholic Reformation and is known for her writings on spiritual life and her work in establishing schools and convents.
Another notable figure named Chantal was Chantal Akerman, a Belgian filmmaker, artist, and professor of filmmaking, who lived from 1950 to 2015. She was a pioneer of avant-garde and experimental cinema and her films explored themes of identity, gender, and the human condition.
Chantal Mouffe is a Belgian political theorist and professor who has made significant contributions to the field of political philosophy and democratic theory. She was born in 1943 and is known for her work on agonistic pluralism and radical democracy.
Chantal Kreviazuk is a Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist who was born in 1974. She is known for her folk-rock and adult contemporary music and has released several successful albums, including "Under These Rocks and Stones" and "Ghost Stories".
Chantal Petitclerc is a Canadian former wheelchair racer and senator who was born in 1970. She won numerous gold medals in Paralympic and World Championships and is considered one of the greatest Paralympic athletes in history.
People
Chantal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chantal 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
Chantal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chantal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,968 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chantal 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 43,016 US residents.
Is Chantal a common name?
We classify Chantal 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, 8,453 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chantal most popular?
The single biggest year for Chantal was 1990, when 428 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chantal is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Chantal a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Chantal 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.
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.