Chantha
A feminine name of Khmer origin meaning "moon" or "moonlight".
Name Census estimates that about 61 living Americans carry the first name Chantha. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Chantha today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chantha births was 1986 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chantha. 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 Chantha. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
61
~ 1 in 5,618,924 Americans
Peak year
1986
18 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1988 SSA rank
#5,855
Tracked since 1983
Gender
Gender distribution for Chantha
Chantha is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 64 total registrations, 30 (46.9%) were male and 34 (53.1%) were female.
Chantha as a male name
- Ranked #5,855 in 1988
- 7 male births in 1988
- Peak: 1986 (11 births)
Chantha as a female name
- Ranked #9,859 in 1989
- 7 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1983 (8 births)
Popularity
Chantha: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Chantha 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 Chantha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 30 | 34 | 64 |
Geography
Where Chanthas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chantha
The name Chantha originates from the Sanskrit language, which was the classical literary language of ancient India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "chanda," which means "moon" or "moonlight." Chantha can also be spelled as "Chanda" or "Chand."
In ancient Hindu mythology, the moon (Chandra) was personified as a male deity, often associated with beauty, wisdom, and fertility. The name Chantha may have been given to children with the hope that they would possess qualities associated with the moon, such as serenity, grace, and intelligence.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chantha can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th or 9th century BCE. In the epic, Chandra was the name of a powerful king who was the son of the moon deity.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Chantha or its variations. One such person was Chanda Sahib (1670-1752), an Indian military leader and ruler of the Carnatic region in South India. He played a significant role in the power struggles between the British and French colonial powers during the 18th century.
Another historical figure with the name Chantha was Chanda Bibi (1550-1599), a Muslim queen and warrior who ruled the Berar Sultanate in central India. She is renowned for her fierce resistance against the Mughal Empire and her successful defense of the Ahmadnagar fortress.
In the realm of literature, Chanda Chakravarti (1901-1989) was a Bengali poet and writer from India. He was a prominent figure in the Bengali literary movement and is remembered for his contributions to modern Bengali poetry and his advocacy for social and political reforms.
Chanda Kochhar (born 1961) is a notable Indian businesswoman who served as the managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank, one of India's largest private sector banks, from 2009 to 2018.
Lastly, Chanda Rubin (born 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 6 in the world and won seven singles titles on the WTA Tour.
People
Chantha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chantha 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
Chantha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chantha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 61 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chantha 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 5,618,924 US residents.
Is Chantha a common name?
We classify Chantha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 64 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chantha most popular?
The single biggest year for Chantha was 1986, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chantha is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Chantha a female name?
Yes, 53.1% of people registered as Chantha 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.