Candy
Candy was given to 30 girls in 2025, #4,575 among girls’ names; 28,625 Americans have been recorded with it since 1896 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 25,100 Americans named Candy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 56 years old and half are between 47 and 66.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Candy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Candy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Candy is “a pet form of the female given name Candace or Candice.”
/ˈkændi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Candy?
#4,575 among girls’ names, 2025
Candy fell from #3,186 in 2015 to #4,575 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 29.1 to 18.7 per million.
1,044 babies in 1970, the peak
Candy peaked in 1970, when 1,044 girls were given it, #281 among girls’ names. The 30 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 30 | #4,575 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 40 | #3,771 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 40 | #3,776 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 32 | #4,394 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 34 | #4,175 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 36 | #3,938 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 45 | #3,462 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 49 | #3,255 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 45 | #3,443 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 49 | #3,294 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (104)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 52 | #3,186 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 57 | #2,972 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 64 | #2,707 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 81 | #2,318 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 80 | #2,328 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 102 | #1,960 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 153 | #1,494 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 108 | #1,951 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 119 | #1,792 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 120 | #1,736 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 104 | #1,856 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 106 | #1,797 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 99 | #1,860 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 101 | #1,781 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 112 | #1,628 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 111 | #1,588 | 0.06 |
| 1999 | 67 | #2,222 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 97 | #1,656 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 96 | #1,639 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 113 | #1,447 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 96 | #1,575 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 146 | #1,202 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 135 | #1,263 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 146 | #1,193 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 178 | #1,030 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 199 | #946 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 219 | #847 | 0.12 |
| 1988 | 223 | #816 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 219 | #799 | 0.13 |
| 1986 | 218 | #778 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 241 | #715 | 0.14 |
| 1984 | 321 | #573 | 0.19 |
| 1983 | 365 | #521 | 0.22 |
| 1982 | 388 | #516 | 0.23 |
| 1981 | 397 | #505 | 0.24 |
| 1980 | 438 | #481 | 0.26 |
| 1979 | 502 | #418 | 0.31 |
| 1978 | 505 | #409 | 0.33 |
| 1977 | 531 | #394 | 0.35 |
| 1976 | 557 | #371 | 0.38 |
| 1975 | 646 | #342 | 0.44 |
| 1974 | 662 | #333 | 0.45 |
| 1973 | 748 | #311 | 0.51 |
| 1972 | 857 | #293 | 0.56 |
| 1971 | 835 | #318 | 0.50 |
| 1970 | 1,044 | #281 | 0.60 |
| 1969 | 1,015 | #278 | 0.60 |
| 1968 | 755 | #316 | 0.46 |
| 1967 | 581 | #376 | 0.35 |
| 1966 | 655 | #353 | 0.39 |
| 1965 | 709 | #341 | 0.40 |
| 1964 | 715 | #353 | 0.38 |
| 1963 | 765 | #342 | 0.40 |
| 1962 | 751 | #346 | 0.38 |
| 1961 | 782 | #336 | 0.39 |
| 1960 | 827 | #327 | 0.41 |
| 1959 | 990 | #285 | 0.49 |
| 1958 | 884 | #303 | 0.44 |
| 1957 | 869 | #312 | 0.42 |
| 1956 | 840 | #306 | 0.42 |
| 1955 | 495 | #395 | 0.25 |
| 1954 | 437 | #413 | 0.23 |
| 1953 | 375 | #444 | 0.20 |
| 1952 | 300 | #484 | 0.16 |
| 1951 | 254 | #519 | 0.14 |
| 1950 | 272 | #488 | 0.16 |
| 1949 | 290 | #472 | 0.17 |
| 1948 | 365 | #414 | 0.21 |
| 1947 | 517 | #352 | 0.29 |
| 1946 | 335 | #420 | 0.21 |
| 1945 | 198 | #515 | 0.15 |
| 1944 | 91 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1943 | 73 | #907 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 45 | #1,182 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 19 | #1,892 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 15 | #2,117 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,616 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 11 | #2,588 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 16 | #1,959 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,599 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,950 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,453 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,617 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,597 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,704 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,428 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,905 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,384 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 7 | #4,086 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,055 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,550 | under 0.01 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,885 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,406 | 0.01 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,617 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Candy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Candy has been given almost only to girls: 100 boys in 104 years of records.
Girls and boys named Candy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Candy, and how old are they?
25,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 28,625 Americans ever recorded as Candy. The median Candy alive today is 56 years old; half are between 47 and 66.
The 2020 Census counted 24,305 people named Candy (24,158 women and girls, 147 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 25,929 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 261 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8,840 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 10,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,520 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,640 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 569 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Candy born?
The states with the most babies named Candy are California, Texas and Ohio, with 31% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 3,927 | #1,979 | 1.4× |
| Texas | 2,088 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 1,902 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 1,469 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 1,290 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 1,142 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,131 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 1,040 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Florida | 834 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 813 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Candy is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Candy is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Candy with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 51,107 babies since 1880, Candy is the most given (56% of them). In 2025 it was given to 30 of their 36 babies (83%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Candy
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Candy and names like it
- Compare Candy and CandiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sCandy peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Candy since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Candy.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Candy alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with CMost given first.