| Callista | Pandora | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Most beautiful | all-gifted |
| Origin | greek | greek |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | kuh-LIS-tuh | pan-DOR-ə |
| Syllables | 3 | 3 |
| First appeared | 1914 | 0 |
| Peak year | 1999 (137) | 1952 (132) |
| In 2025 | 42 | 0 |
| Trend | Declining | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Callista | Pandora |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 250 | 225 |
| 2010s | 567 | 498 |
| 2000s | 901 | 315 |
| 1990s | 424 | 173 |
| 1980s | 197 | 87 |
| 1970s | 44 | 285 |
| 1960s | 5 | 660 |
| 1950s | 28 | 659 |
| 1940s | 0 | 83 |
| 1930s | 6 | 58 |
| 1920s | 23 | 72 |
| 1910s | 40 | 11 |
From Greek kallistos/kallistē 'most beautiful', the superlative of kalos, from kallos 'beauty'. Kalliste was a title of the goddess Artemis; the mythological nymph Kallisto bears the same root.
From Greek Pandora, combining pan 'all' + doron 'gift', meaning 'all-gifted' or, by an older reading, 'all-giving' (giver of all gifts). The scholarly sense is disputed between 'gifted with everything' and 'giver of all'.
Callista is more popular than Pandora today: about 42 US babies were given the name Callista in 2025, compared with 0 named Pandora.
Callista means Most beautiful (greek origin), while Pandora means all-gifted (greek origin).
In US records, Callista first appears in 1914 and Pandora in 0, so Pandora has the longer recorded history.