Sondra
Feminine · “defender of men”
Sondra is Sandra with the vowel changed — and Sandra is the back half of Alessandra, the Italian form of a Greek compound meaning defender of men.
How old is the name Sondra?
Sondra first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Sondra alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 20,000 people named Sondra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sondra most popular?
Sondra peaked in 1940, reaching #199 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,733 places below that high. See the whole 1940 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alexandra to Sondra
The story of Sondra
Alessandra is the Italian feminine of Alessandro, and Italian shortens it to Sandra by taking the back half. English-speaking countries borrowed Sandra directly in the twentieth century — often without Alexandra behind it — and it rose sharply through the 1940s. Sondra is the o-spelling of that wave, one of the small vowel substitutions American naming used to individuate a familiar sound, and it peaked in the mid-1940s.
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 same name Alexander carries, in its feminine form.
How the name formed
- Alexandra
- Alessandra
- Sandra
- Sondra
Related forms: Sandra · Alexandra · Sasha · Alejandra
Pronouncing Sondra
SON-druh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Sondra and Sandra differ audibly in the first vowel, unlike most respellings of the period.
Nicknames for Sondra
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 1939875 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #199reached in 1940
- Change vs 2021
- −12.5%7 in 2025, from 8
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.
Sondra in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sandra in Italian — spelling variant
- Alexandra in Greek — related form
- Sasha in Russian — related form
- Alejandra in Spanish — related form
Sondras among us
people named Sondra are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Sondra
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 Jewel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sondra's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jewel climbed just as high around 1904, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jewel's path sketches the road Sondra is walking now.
Sondra 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
Sondra beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sondra in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Alexandra behind it is one of the most durable names in Europe, with a transparent meaning.
- Unlike most respellings, this one genuinely changes the sound rather than only the look.
- Two firm syllables that stand up well against a long surname.
- 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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What they receive
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Sondra
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sondras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 20,000 people named Sondra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sondra in 2025?
- Sondra ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sondra?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Sondra — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sondra with classmates?
- Sondra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sondra
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sondra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sondra and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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