Girl · Egyptian · New Testament

Candace

KAN-diss · from Kandake · means “Traditionally understood as a royal title, "queen mother" or "queen"”

Candace, or Kandake, was not originally a personal name but a Cushitic and Meroitic royal title meaning "queen" or "queen mother," used for the ruling queens of ancient Nubia in what is now Sudan. In Acts 8:27, an official of the Candace's court meets Philip and becomes one of the earliest African converts to Christ.

“An important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake, which means queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship.”

The story behind the name

Acts 8 tells of an Ethiopian court official, a eunuch in charge of the entire treasury of the Candace, the title given to the queens who ruled the ancient African kingdom of Nubia. He had traveled all the way to Jerusalem to worship, showing deep devotion even before he fully understood the gospel.

On his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah in his chariot, he met Philip, who explained that the suffering servant in the scroll was Jesus. The official believed on the spot and was baptized, then continued on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:27-39).

Though Candace herself never appears directly, her royal title frames one of the most joyful conversion stories in Acts, a reminder that the good news reached far beyond Jerusalem from the very beginning. A daughter named Candace carries a name tied to royalty and to a story of the gospel's reach to every nation.

Middle names that sing with Candace

Chosen for rhythm and meanings that speak to each other.

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