Sandra began as an Italian short form of Alessandra, the feminine of Alexander, and so means "defender of mankind" from the Greek alexein, to defend, and aner, man. It swept the English-speaking world in the 1940s and 1950s and belongs to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and actress Sandra Bullock. Sandra ranked number 257 in 2000, dropped out of the US top 1000 in 2020 and stands at number 1210 in 2025.