girl's name
Sandra
SAN-dra
- Origin Italian
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 995,427
Northern Ireland
#456
2017 births
Sandra is a girl's name that began as an Italian short form of Alessandra and became independent in the twentieth century. It carries the meaning defender of men through Alexander, and our records hold 992,409 births across four markets.
- Sandra is a name of Italian origin.
- Peaked in 1947, when 34,852 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 17,635 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1904.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Sandra over time
Births per decade in the United States, 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 | 48 |
| 1910s | 433 |
| 1920s | 1,627 |
| 1930s | 45,575 |
| 1940s | 266,258 |
| 1950s | 252,071 |
| 1960s | 184,409 |
| 1970s | 64,670 |
| 1980s | 30,331 |
| 1990s | 17,736 |
| 2000s | 10,016 |
| 2010s | 3,672 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,377 |
What Sandra means
Sandra means defender of men, inherited from Alexander. The Greek original joins a verb meaning to defend or ward off to a word for a man, so the sense is one who protects people.
Where Sandra comes from
Sandra is clipped from the Italian Alessandra, feminine of Alessandro, from the Greek Alexandros — alexein, to defend, joined to aner, a man. Like Xander it takes the back half of the name rather than the front, dropping Ales- and keeping -sandra. Its independent use is twentieth-century and largely English-speaking; George Meredith's 1864 novel Sandra Belloni is usually credited with introducing it to British readers. The name spread rapidly in the 1930s and 40s and then fell as quickly, giving it one of the more compressed curves among names of its size.
Sandra in use
Sandra peaked in the United States in 1947, when 34,852 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 1207th in the United States on 188 births, 1363rd in France and 2468th in England and Wales, across 995,427 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Its rise and fall are unusually compressed — most of that near-million total sits within about forty years.
How popular is Sandra?
In 2025, Sandra was given to 188 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Sandra is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Sandra
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Sandra also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Sandra over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Sandra
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.
Sandra 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.
- Bulgarian
- Aleksandra
- Dutch
- Sanna
- Estonian
- Andra
- Finnish
- Sanna
- Galician
- Xandra
- Italian
- Alessandra
- Latvian
- Sondra Andra Aleksandra
- Norwegian
- Sanna
- Polish
- Aleksandra
- Russian
- Aleksandra
- Serbian
- Aleksandra
- Serbo-Croatian
- Aleksandra
- Slovene
- Aleksandra
Sibling names for Sandra
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Sandra — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Sandra
What does the name Sandra mean?
Defender of men, inherited from Alexander through the Italian Alessandra.
Is Sandra short for Alexandra?
It began as a short form of the Italian Alessandra, taking the end of the name rather than the beginning, and is now used independently.
How popular is Sandra?
1207th in the United States, down from a 1947 peak of 34,852 births.
When did Sandra become a name in its own right?
In the twentieth century. Meredith's 1864 novel Sandra Belloni is usually credited with introducing it to English readers.
Is Sandra a girl's or a boy's name?
Sandra is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Sandra?
Sandra has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Sandra?
Sandra is usually shortened to Sandy.
Is Sandra a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Sandra currently ranks #1,110 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.