Saundra
Feminine · “defender of men”
Saundra is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 17,851 girls against 11 boys since 1880.
Saundra is Sandra spelled the Scottish way. Alexander was Saunders in Scotland for centuries, and the au that the Scots put in the middle turns up again here, four hundred years later and in a woman's name.
How old is the name Saundra?
Saundra first appears in US birth records in 1925 — 100 years ago. The typical Saundra alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 13,500 people named Saundra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Saundra most popular?
Saundra peaked in 1942, reaching #238 nationally. See the whole 1942 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alexandra to Saundra
The story of Saundra
Italian gave Alessandra and shortened it to Sandra, which English-speaking countries borrowed directly in the twentieth century, often with no Alexandra behind it. Scotland had independently produced Saunders and Saundra from Alexander, using an au that its own dialect favored. American families in the 1940s met both spellings, and Saundra rose alongside Sandra through that decade, peaking around 1945.
Meaning
defender of men
Through Alexandra, from the Greek alexein, 'to defend' or 'to ward off', and aner, 'man'. Both elements are ordinary Greek words and the compound is undisputed — it is the feminine of the name Alexander carries.
How the name formed
- Alexandra
- Alessandra
- Sandra
- Saundra
Related forms: Sandra · Saunders · Alexandra · Alejandra
Pronouncing Saundra
SAWN-druh
Two syllables, stress on the first. The au gives a rounder first vowel than Sandra's, so the two are genuinely different in speech.
Nicknames for Saundra
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
- 1943746 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #238reached in 1942
- Change vs 2015
- +20.0%6 in 2017, from 5
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.
Saundra in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sandra in Italian — spelling variant
- Saunders in Scottish — related form
- Alexandra in Greek — related form
- Alejandra in Spanish — related form
Saundras among us
people named Saundra are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Saundra has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Alexandra behind it is one of the most durable names in Europe, with a transparent meaning.
- The Scottish spelling has a real history rather than being a modern decoration.
- Unlike most respellings, this one actually changes the sound.
- Sandra is far commoner and will be assumed by anyone writing the name down.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the twentieth century.
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Saundra
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Saundras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,500 people named Saundra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Saundra in 2025?
- Saundra is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Saundra with classmates?
- Saundra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Saundra? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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