Sandra
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men".
Name Census estimates that about 579,243 living Americans carry the first name Sandra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sandra today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sandra births was 1947 (34,852 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sandra. 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 Sandra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sandra is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,692 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Sandra is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Sandras were born before 1970.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Sandra have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
579K
~ 1 in 592 Americans
Peak year
1947
34,852 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2004 SSA rank
#1,045
Tracked since 1904
Census
Sandra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 780,837 people with the first name Sandra, which placed it at #39 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
#39
National first-name rank
People counted
781K
780,837 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
258.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sandra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sandra is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.0%) and Black (8.6%). 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 Sandra 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 Sandra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.0% · 538,415
- Hispanic or Latino19.0% · 148,471
- Black or African American8.6% · 66,899
- Two or more races1.8% · 14,332
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 8,765
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3,955
Gender
Gender distribution for Sandra
Out of the 878,026 babies given the name Sandra since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Sandra as a male name
- Ranked #9,758 in 2004
- 7 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1943 (105 births)
Sandra as a female name
- Ranked #1,045 in 2024
- 240 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (34,779 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sandra appears almost entirely female. Of the 780,828 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Sandra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sandra from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 266,256 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sandra 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 Sandra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sandras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Sandra, while Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17,130 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sandra
The name Sandra has its origins in the Greek language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek name Alexandros, which was a compound of the words "alexo" meaning "to defend" and "andros" meaning "man." The feminine form of the name, Alexandra, eventually evolved into the modern name Sandra.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sandra can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it appears as a variant spelling of Alexandra. In the Book of Acts, a woman named "Sandriah" is mentioned as a follower of Jesus Christ.
During the Middle Ages, the name Sandra was relatively uncommon, but it gained popularity in various European regions, particularly in Italy and Spain. In the 13th century, a notable figure named Sandra di Piandimezzo was a wealthy Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts.
In the 16th century, Sandra Botticelli (1555-1628) was an Italian painter and poet who gained recognition for her contributions to the Renaissance art movement. Her works often depicted religious and mythological themes, and she was praised for her skillful use of color and composition.
Another prominent figure from history who bore the name Sandra was Sandra de Acuña (1572-1630), a Spanish noblewoman and writer. She was known for her poetry and her involvement in literary circles during the Spanish Golden Age.
In the 19th century, Sandra Bunić (1819-1898) was a Croatian writer and poet who played a significant role in the Croatian national revival movement. Her works helped to preserve and promote the Croatian language and culture.
As the name Sandra continued to spread across various cultures and regions, it became more widely used and accepted. Some other notable individuals with the name Sandra throughout history include Sandra Cisneros (born 1954), an American writer and poet of Mexican descent, and Sandra Day O'Connor (born 1930), the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sandra
People
Sandra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sandra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sandra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sandra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 579,243 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sandra 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 592 US residents.
Is Sandra a common name?
We classify Sandra as "Very Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 878,026 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sandra most popular?
The single biggest year for Sandra was 1947, when 34,852 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sandra is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sandra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 780,837 people with the name Sandra, or 258.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39 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 Sandra 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 Sandra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sandra appears almost entirely female. Of the 780,828 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Sandra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sandra is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.0%) and Black (8.6%). 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 Sandra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sandra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.0% (538,415 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 Sandra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sandra a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Sandra 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 Sandra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sandra 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 Sandra 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 Sandra?
Want to know how many people share the name Sandra? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.