Cassandra
Feminine · “second part means "man”
Cassandra is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 171,008 girls against 376 boys since 1880.
Cassandra comes down to us from the Greek epics — the Trojan princess named in the Iliad, later given a voice by Chaucer and Shakespeare — and it has been spoken in English since the Middle Ages. Four syllables that fall into an easy rhythm, with a whole set of ready-made short forms tucked inside: Cass, Cassie, even Sandra. Familiar to nearly everyone, yet rarely met twice in one classroom.
How old is the name Cassandra?
Cassandra first appears in US birth records in 1902 — 123 years ago. The typical Cassandra alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 164,000 people named Cassandra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cassandra most popular?
Cassandra peaked in 1990, reaching #49 nationally. Today it ranks #630, 581 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Where it comes from
From Kassandra to Cassandra
The story of Cassandra
The name is Greek, Kassandra, and belongs first to the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, named among the Trojans in the Iliad and given her prophetic gift and her curse in later tellings — she foresaw truly and was never believed. Latin writers carried the spelling Cassandra westward, and by the twelfth century it was a real English name, borne by ordinary women and worn down in speech to Cass and Cassie, much as it still is. Chaucer put her in Troilus and Criseyde, Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida, keeping the story attached to the sound. It traveled to America with the language and has been on the records there since the early twentieth century.
Meaningscholars disagree
second part means "man, men"; the first part is unresolved
The ending goes back to Greek anēr / andros, "man" — the same element in Alexandra. The first element is where scholars part ways: readings include a link to kekasmai, "to excel, to shine," giving something like "shining upon men," and a connection to a verb of entangling or ensnaring, giving "she who entangles men." Neither has won the argument.
How the name formed
- Kassandra
- CassandraLatin
- CassandreOld French
- CassandraMiddle English
Related forms: Κασσάνδρα (Kassandra) · Cassandre · Casandra · Kassandra · Kasandra · Cassandra
Pronouncing Cassandra
kuh-SAN-druh
Stress on the second syllable. Some speakers broaden it to kuh-SAHN-druh; both are heard in English and neither needs correcting.
Nicknames for Cassandra
High
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
- 1902
- Most girls named
- 19907,054 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #49reached in 1990
- Change vs 2023
- +1.3%463 in 2025, from 457
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.
Cassandra in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Κασσάνδρα (Kassandra) in Greek — transliteration
- Cassandre in French — same name
- Casandra in Spanish — spelling variant
- Kassandra in German — spelling variant
- Kasandra in Polish — spelling variant
- Cassandra in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Cassandras among us
people named Cassandra are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,471 born in 2025 was named Cassandra
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cassandra
- #630
- Cassandra on the 2025 chart
- #429
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cassandra went to 463 girls in 2025, but Kassandra is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 660, which makes it the 429th most-given girls’ name of the year — 201 places above the chart.
- Cassandra463
- Kassandra197
About 1 girl in 2,435 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 3,471 for Cassandra itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Darlene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cassandra's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darlene climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darlene's path sketches the road Cassandra is walking now.
Cassandra 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 Cassandra is headed
Cassandra should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Cassandra beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cassandra in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Several short forms already in circulation — Cassie, Cass, Sandra — so the name adapts without anyone having to invent anything.
- The spelling is the standard one in English and most people can write it after hearing it once.
- An unbroken record from Homeric Greek through medieval England to the present, which is rare for a name this recognizable.
- Works with little adjustment in French, Spanish, German, Italian and Polish.
- "A Cassandra" is also an English common noun for someone whose warnings go unheeded, and "Cassandra complex" is a set phrase. Most people meet the name before the noun, but the association is genuinely there.
- Kassandra and Casandra are both in use, so expect an occasional spelling check — the C-and-double-s version is the one most readers default to.
- The name is well represented among adults now in their middle years and thinner among children, so it may read as a generational name to some ears and as an unusual one to others.
- Others will shorten it for her, often to Cassie, whether or not that is the household choice — worth being at peace with in advance.
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What they receive
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Cassandra
Feminine · #630 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cassandras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 164,000 people named Cassandra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cassandra?
- Cassandra is the most-used spelling in US records — 463 of the 660 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kassandra.
- How popular is the name Cassandra in 2025?
- Cassandra ranks #630 among US girl names in 2025, with 463 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cassandra?
- About 1 in every 3,471 US girls born in 2025 was named Cassandra — 463 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cassandra with classmates?
- Cassandra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cassandra
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Azariah#630 · Indie#632 · Rivka#628 · Lexi#628 · Andi#632 · Gabrielle#632 · Winona#627 · Maliyah#626
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cassandra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cassandra and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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