Candace

Meaning and origin

Candace comes from an ancient royal title meaning “queen mother.” Its source is Meroitic kdke, represented in Greek as Kandake and mentioned in the New Testament Book of Acts. The biblical reference helped carry a title from an African royal tradition into later Christian naming.

This history gives Candace a particularly distinctive origin: it began as a hereditary title rather than as an ordinary personal name. Some Bible translations preserve the form Kandake, while Candace became familiar in English. Puritans adopted it as a given name after the Protestant Reformation, giving it several centuries of English use.

Pronunciation and familiar forms

The usual English pronunciation is KAN-dis, with the emphasis on the first syllable. A less common pronunciation gives it three syllables, KAN-duh-see. The two-syllable form makes the final ce sound like s and keeps the whole name compact.

Candice, Candis, Candyce, and Kandace are established related spellings. Candi, Candy, and Kandi are familiar short forms. The full Candace preserves the spelling associated with the biblical title, while the alternatives make different parts of its pronunciation more explicit on the page.

A literary connection

William Faulkner used Candace for a character in The Sound and the Fury, published in 1929. The novel gives the name a place in twentieth-century American literature alongside its much older religious history. Its appearance there predates the name's strongest period on American birth certificates by several decades.

A character in the 1942 film Meet the Stewarts also helped popularize the name. Together, these appearances place Candace within both fiction and film before its later rise among American girls.

Candace Parker and basketball

Basketball player Candace Parker supplies a prominent modern association. In 2008, her first WNBA season, she received both the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. She won another league MVP in 2013, establishing an exceptional record across the early part of her professional career.

Parker's championships came with three different teams: the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016, the Chicago Sky in 2021, and the Las Vegas Aces in 2023. She also won two Olympic gold medals. These achievements give the name a specific sporting history, extending from a remarkable debut season to success across several teams.

Her full first name remained visible throughout that career, adding a contemporary athletic bearer to a name whose origins lie in an ancient royal title.

Popularity in the United States

Candace's largest American annual count was 2,848 girls in 1982. Its best rank was 102nd in 1984, just outside the top hundred. It ranked 2,104th in 2015, 2,506th in 2020, and 3,173rd in 2025, when 50 girls received the name. Its strongest American period remains the early 1980s.

How popular is Candace?

In 2025, Candace ranked #3,173 among girls in the United States, with 50 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1882; its largest annual count was 2,848 in 1982. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.