girl's name
Chantal
shahn-TAL
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 243,892
Scotland
#468
1994 births
Chantal is a girl's name from an Occitan word for a stone or boulder, taken from a French place name — the singing reading everyone gives it comes from the French chanter and is wrong.
- Chantal is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1954, when 13,205 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 117,911 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1901.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Chantal over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 30 |
| 1910s | 65 |
| 1920s | 700 |
| 1930s | 4,915 |
| 1940s | 53,025 |
| 1950s | 114,740 |
| 1960s | 49,650 |
| 1970s | 7,760 |
| 1980s | 1,110 |
| 1990s | 270 |
| 2000s | 110 |
| 2010s | 55 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 20 |
What Chantal means
Chantal means a stone, or a place of stones. The Occitan word cantal names a boulder, and the association with singing is a folk etymology from the unrelated French chanter.
Where Chantal comes from
Chantal comes from a place in Saône-et-Loire, from the Occitan cantal, a stone or boulder. It became a name through Jeanne de Chantal, a seventeenth-century widow who founded the Visitation order with Francis de Sales and was canonised in 1767 — so this is a surname-from-place become a given name through a saint. The universal gloss of song or singer comes from hearing the French chanter in it, which has nothing to do with the Occitan word. It is one of the clearest cases on this site of a meaning attached purely by sound.
Chantal in use
Chantal peaked in France in 1954, when 13,205 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now charts in three of the seven markets we track — 2911th in Canada, 6227th in the United States on 19 births and 6695th in France on 5 — across 243,892 lifetime births. Its curve matches Martine, Christiane and Nathalie exactly: a fast French rise through the mid century and a near-total disappearance since.
How popular is Chantal?
In 2025, Chantal was given to 5 babies in France. It is a rare choice.
Where Chantal is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Chantal
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Chantal also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Chantal over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Chantal
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Chantal in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Chantal
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Chantal — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Chantal
What does the name Chantal mean?
A stone or boulder, from the Occitan cantal — not song, despite the universal gloss.
Does Chantal mean singer?
No. That reading comes from hearing the French chanter in it, and has nothing to do with the actual source.
Who was Jeanne de Chantal?
A seventeenth-century widow who founded the Visitation order and was canonised in 1767.
How popular is Chantal?
6695th in France, down from a 1954 peak of 13,205 births.
Is Chantal a girl's or a boy's name?
Chantal is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Chantal?
Chantal has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Chantal?
Chantal is usually shortened to Chanty.
Is Chantal a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Chantal currently ranks #2,911 in France. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.