Given name & surname · also Sanskrit
Nanda
“one who is full of joy”
Nanda is used as a given name and a surname. One Indian interpretation is “one who is full of joy.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Indian interpretation is “one who is full of joy.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Sanskrit.
How it developed
The name draws on Sanskrit nanda, meaning “joy”.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1950. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Nanda through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 70
- 5 boys · 65 girls
- Most popular year
- 1976
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2004. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,121 as a first name in 2020; 1,583 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Nanda’s family of names
In Portuguese usage, Nanda is a diminutive of Fernanda. Nanda has a related form in Nandah. Nanda has a related form in Nandea.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Nanda
- Nanda CostaBrazilian actressborn 1986
- Nanda Kishor PunNepalese politicianborn 1966
- Nanda BayinKing of Burma1535–1600
- Bhai Nand LalPersian poet, Sikh scholar, and theologian (1633–1713)
- Nanda PrimaveraItalian actress (1898-1995)
- Nanda Lin Kyaw ChitBurmese footballer (born 1991)born 1987
- Nanda Prustyteacher from Odisha, India1919–2021
- Nanda VigoItalian designer (1936-2020)
- Nanda Kishore BalIndian Odia-language writer1875–1928
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Nanda, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Alpa
“a petite girl”
>99% girls
Kalinda
“of the sun”
>99% girls
Lata
“of the lovely vine”
>99% girls
Sharmila
“the joy of the house of King Pandu” · “bashful, modest”
>99% girls
Usha
Usha is a surname from Manipuri.
>99% girls
Sushma
“a beautiful woman”
>99% girls
Rekha
“one who walks a straight line”
>99% girls
Shilpa
“strong as a rock”
>99% girls