Vanity
Excessive pride in one's appearance or accomplishments; excessive self-admiration.
Name Census estimates that about 1,790 living Americans carry the first name Vanity. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vanity today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vanity births was 1988 (116 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vanity. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 191,483 Americans
Peak year
1988
116 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,592
Tracked since 1982
Census
Vanity in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,305 people with the first name Vanity, which placed it at #10,283 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,283
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,305 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
42.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vanity
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanity is Black at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.2%) and White (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Vanity described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Vanity at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American42.4% · 553
- Hispanic or Latino38.2% · 499
- White9.8% · 128
- Two or more races5.6% · 73
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 11
Popularity
Vanity: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vanity from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 592 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vanity by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Vanity during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vanitys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Vanity, while Washington, Ohio, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vanity
The name Vanity is derived from the Latin word "vanitas," which means emptiness, futility, or worthlessness. It stems from the Latin adjective "vanus," meaning empty or vain. The name's origins can be traced back to ancient Rome, where it was likely used as a descriptor or epithet rather than a proper name.
In the Christian tradition, the concept of vanity is often associated with excessive pride, arrogance, and an excessive love of worldly pleasures and possessions. The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament frequently references vanity, warning against the pursuit of wealth, power, and earthly desires as ultimately meaningless and unfulfilling.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Vanity as a given name dates back to the 17th century. Vanity Fair, a celebrated novel by William Makepeace Thackeray published in 1847-48, features a character named Vanity. This literary reference may have contributed to the name's popularity in the English-speaking world.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Vanity. Vanity Duriez (1972-1997) was a Canadian poet and writer. Vanity Fair (1959-), born Denise Katrina Matthews, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress best known for her work in the 1980s with the funk band Vanity 6.
Vanity Pomrenke (1983-) is a former American reality television personality who appeared on the shows "Rock of Love" and "I Love Money." Vanity Adonis (1958-) is an American actress and model who has appeared in several films and television shows.
Vanity Karla (1987-) is a Mexican actress and singer who has starred in various telenovelas and films. While not an exhaustive list, these individuals exemplify the use of Vanity as a first name throughout different eras and cultures.
People
Vanity + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vanity as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Vanity: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vanity?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,790 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vanity going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 191,483 US residents.
Is Vanity a common name?
We classify Vanity as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,845 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vanity most popular?
The single biggest year for Vanity was 1988, when 116 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vanity is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vanity in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,305 people with the name Vanity, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,283 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Vanity in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Vanity?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vanity appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,309 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Vanity?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanity is Black at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.2%) and White (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Vanity most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Vanity in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.4% (553 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Vanity in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vanity a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vanity in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Vanity still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vanity in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Vanity can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Vanity?
Want to know how many people share the name Vanity? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.