Chardonnay
A French name meaning "place abounding with thistles".
Name Census estimates that about 624 living Americans carry the first name Chardonnay. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chardonnay today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chardonnay births was 1991 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chardonnay. 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
624
~ 1 in 549,286 Americans
Peak year
1991
48 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,187
Tracked since 1985
Popularity
Chardonnay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chardonnay from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 361 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
Chardonnay 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 Chardonnay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chardonnays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Chardonnay, while New York, Michigan, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chardonnay
The given name Chardonnay is derived from the name of the green-skinned grape variety used to make the popular white wine of the same name. The grape originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, with the first records of the variety dating back to the late 6th century CE.
While the origins of the grape's name are unclear, some linguistic experts believe it may be derived from the word "chardonneret," which means "goldfinch" in French. This theory suggests the grape was possibly named after the small yellow songbird due to the similarities in color between the bird and the ripe golden grapes.
Another hypothesis traces the name's roots to the village of Chardonne near Lausanne in the Swiss canton of Vaud, where some historical accounts suggest the grape variety may have been cultivated as early as the 4th century CE. However, the connection between the village and the grape remains uncertain.
Historically, the Chardonnay grape has been an important component in the production of many renowned French wines, including those from the Burgundy and Champagne regions. While the grape itself has been cultivated for centuries, the given name Chardonnay did not gain widespread popularity until the late 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Chardonnay was Chardonnay Beaver, an American singer and songwriter born in 1989. Other notable figures with the name include Chardonnay Parker, an American actress born in 1982, and Chardonnay Tongyik, a Thai model and beauty queen born in 1993.
In literature, the fictional character Chardonnay Munroe appears in the 2001 novel "Little Earthquakes" by Jennifer Weiner. Additionally, Chardonnay Brown is the name of a character in the 2010 novel "One Day" by David Nicholls.
While the name's origins are rooted in the world of winemaking, its increasing use as a given name in recent decades reflects the growing popularity of unique and unconventional monikers inspired by various sources, including food and beverage products.
People
Chardonnay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chardonnay 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
Chardonnay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chardonnay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 624 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chardonnay 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 549,286 US residents.
Is Chardonnay a common name?
We classify Chardonnay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 643 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chardonnay most popular?
The single biggest year for Chardonnay was 1991, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chardonnay is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Chardonnay a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chardonnay 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.