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Home › Baby Names Directory › Chardonnay

Chardonnay

♀ Girl

Pronounced shar-duh-NAY /ˌʃɑr.dəˈneɪ/Medium

Meaning: Chardonnay is a late-twentieth-century word-name borrowed from the celebrated white wine grape; the grape takes its name from the village of Chardonnay in Burgundy, so the personal name is a fashionable borrowing rather than a traditional given name.Medium

In 30 seconds: Chardonnay is a wine-grape name that became a girl's name in the glamour-loving late 1980s — lush, French and unmistakable (said 'shar-duh-NAY').
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Origin MediumFrench, English
MeaningChardonnay is a late-twentieth-century word-name borrowed from the celebrated white wine grape; the grape takes its name from the village of Chardonnay in Burgundy, so the personal name is a fashionable borrowing rather than a traditional given name.
U.S. rank (2018)#16187 ↗ Rising
2018 U.S. births5 girls (0.00% of U.S. girls)
Peak year1991
Total births (all-time)≈ 643

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

peak 199119852018

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Chardonnay comes straight from the wine grape, which in turn is named for the Burgundian village of Chardonnay. As a given name it belongs to a wave of aspirational word-names that treated a name as a small emblem of taste; its meaning is simply the grape and the wine it makes.

Chardonnay appeared as a name from the mid-1980s, peaking around 1991 and staying rare — only a few dozen girls a year even then. It reads as a bold, of-its-moment word-name, firmly dated rather than revived.

Did you know? Chardonnay rode the same late-80s taste for luxe word-names as Chanel and Champagne, and later gained pop-culture visibility through the British series 'Footballers' Wives'.
Overall data confidence 60%
References — Chardonnay (grape/place) — wine grape named for Chardonnay village, Burgundy

Variations

ChardonaeShardonnay

Nicknames

CharDonna

Famous Bearers

  • ★Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe (fictional)
    A central character in the British television drama 'Footballers' Wives', which helped popularize the name's image.

If you like Chardonnay…

Chanel— a like luxe French word-name for girls
Brandy— another drink-derived girls' name of the era
Mercedes— a same-era aspirational word-name
Tiffany— a glamorous 1980s girls' name of similar flavor

Explore names like Chardonnay

By thememodernword-nameeighties

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Chardonnay mean?

Chardonnay is a word-name taken from the Chardonnay wine grape, itself named for a village in Burgundy, France.

How do you pronounce Chardonnay?

It's said shar-duh-NAY /ˌʃɑr.dəˈneɪ/ — three syllables, stress on the last.

Is Chardonnay a boy or girl name?

Chardonnay is used as a girl's name.

How popular is Chardonnay?

Chardonnay is rare — a late-eighties word-name borne by only a few dozen girls a year at its peak.

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