Kandi
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "candied, sugar-coated".
Name Census estimates that about 4,860 living Americans carry the first name Kandi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kandi today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kandi births was 1981 (202 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kandi. 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 Kandi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.9K
~ 1 in 70,526 Americans
Peak year
1981
202 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,839
Tracked since 1945
Census
Kandi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,702 people with the first name Kandi, which placed it at #4,100 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
#4,100
National first-name rank
People counted
4.7K
4,702 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kandi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kandi is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Kandi 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 Kandi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.7% · 3,793
- Black or African American8.0% · 378
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 217
- Two or more races4.3% · 203
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 64
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 47
Popularity
Kandi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kandi from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,608 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kandi 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 Kandi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kandis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kandi, while Arizona, Utah, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 87 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kandi
The name Kandi is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit word "khandita," meaning "broken" or "fragmented." This ancient Indian language has influenced the naming traditions of various cultures across South Asia.
One of the earliest known references to the name Kandi can be traced back to the Hindu epic Mahabharata, written around the 8th century BCE. In this sacred text, a minor character named Kandi is mentioned as a skilled warrior and archer. However, the name's precise origin and meaning within the context of the epic remain unclear.
During the medieval period, the name Kandi gained popularity among certain Buddhist communities in parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in regions influenced by the Khmer Empire (present-day Cambodia, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam). It is believed that the name held spiritual significance, potentially symbolizing the fragmentation of the ego or the breaking of attachments on the path to enlightenment.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kandi was Kandi Pande, a revered Balinese sculptor and architect who lived in the 15th century. He is renowned for his intricate carvings and contributions to the construction of several Hindu temples on the island of Bali.
In the 16th century, Kandi Ramasamy, a Tamil poet and scholar from South India, gained recognition for his works on Carnatic music and Hindu philosophy. His poetic compositions, known as Kandi Ramayanam, are still studied and recited in traditional Tamil households.
During the 19th century, Kandi Bukht, a prominent Afghan military commander, played a significant role in the Anglo-Afghan Wars. He is remembered for his brave leadership and unwavering resistance against the British forces during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842).
In more recent history, Kandi Ren, a Chinese-American artist and activist, gained recognition for her powerful mixed-media installations and performances addressing issues of identity, gender, and social justice. Born in 1967, her work has been exhibited in various prestigious galleries and museums around the world.
Another notable figure with the name Kandi is Kandi Burruss, an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born in 1976, she rose to fame as a member of the successful R&B group Xscape and later pursued a successful solo career, as well as appearing on the reality show "The Real Housewives of Atlanta."
People
Kandi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kandi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kandi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kandi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,860 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kandi 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 70,526 US residents.
Is Kandi a common name?
We classify Kandi as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,547 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kandi most popular?
The single biggest year for Kandi was 1981, when 202 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kandi is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kandi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,702 people with the name Kandi, or 1.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,100 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 Kandi 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 Kandi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kandi appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,707 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Kandi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kandi is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Kandi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kandi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.7% (3,793 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 Kandi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kandi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kandi 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 Kandi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kandi 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 Kandi 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 are named Kandi?
Find out how many people have the name Kandi on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.