Candice
Feminine · “queen mother”
Candice is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 67,984 girls against 155 boys since 1880.
Candice is not a name at all in its original language — it is a job title. Kandake was what the Kushites called the queen mother of Meroë, and Greek and Latin writers, meeting the word in the field, mistook the office for a personal name.
How old is the name Candice?
Candice first appears in US birth records in 1925 — 100 years ago. The typical Candice alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 64,000 people named Candice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Candice most popular?
Candice peaked in 1982, reaching #78 nationally. Today it ranks #5099, 5,021 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Candice appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From kandake to Candice
The story of Candice
Kush ruled a substantial state on the Nile for a thousand years, and several of its kandakes led armies — one of them against a Roman force under Augustus. Greek and Roman authors recorded the title as a name, and Acts repeated it, which carried the word into Christian Europe. English used Candace sparingly from the seventeenth century; the Candice spelling is twentieth-century American and peaked in the early 1980s, when the sound was fashionable alongside Candace and Candy.
Meaning
queen mother
From the Meroitic kandake, the title of the queen mothers of the kingdom of Kush in what is now Sudan. Classical writers took it as a proper name, and the Book of Acts follows them, describing an official of 'Candace, queen of the Ethiopians'. The mistake is the origin of the English name.
How the name formed
- kandake
- Candace
- Candice
Related forms: Candace · Candice · Kandace
Pronouncing Candice
KAN-diss
Two syllables, stress on the first. Candace is often said with the stress in the same place, though a three-syllable kan-DAY-see is also heard.
Nicknames for Candice
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1925
- Most girls named
- 19813,698 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #78reached in 1982
- Change vs 2023
- +13.6%25 in 2025, from 22
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Candice in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Candace in English — spelling variant
- Candice in French — same name
- Kandace in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Candices among us
people named Candice are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was named Candice
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sherri test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Candice's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sherri climbed just as high around 1963, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sherri's path sketches the road Candice is walking now.
Candice sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Candice is headed
Candice is easing off slowly — about 32% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Candice beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Candice in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It reaches back to an African kingdom and a real line of ruling women, which is a rare kind of history for a name on the American chart.
- The meaning is a title rather than an adjective, so it makes no claim about the person carrying it.
- Two firm syllables that pair well with most surnames.
- Candice, Candace and Kandace are all in use, so the spelling always has to be given.
- The short form Candy carries associations some families would rather avoid.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Candice to the vote.
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What they receive
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Candice
Feminine · #5099 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Candices are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 64,000 people named Candice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Candice in 2025?
- Candice ranks #5099 among US girl names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Candice?
- About 1 in every 64,291 US girls born in 2025 was named Candice — 25 in all.
- Will my child share the name Candice with classmates?
- Candice will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Candice
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janette#5099 · Loraine#5099 · Delfina#5099 · Hali#5099 · Mecca#5099 · Zoi#5099 · Afia#5099 · Emelie#5099
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Candice? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Candice and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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