Meaning and background
The story behind Chance
Chance works naturally as an English word name, suggesting opportunity, luck or an unexpected event. The word entered English through Old French cheance, related to the idea of what falls out or happens. Its naming history is slightly less obvious: Chance was also used as a short form of Chauncey. Both routes are documented, so fortune is a modern association rather than an invariably inherited personal-name meaning.
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About Chance
Recorded as a dog’s name
Chance appears in 61 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/tʃæns/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/tʃæns/ · primary stress on syllable 1CH AE1 N S
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.