Vashaun
Noble and pure of heart.
Name Census estimates that about 209 living Americans carry the first name Vashaun. It is a predominantly male name (97.2% of registrations). The average person named Vashaun today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vashaun births was 1997 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vashaun. 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
209
~ 1 in 1,639,973 Americans
Peak year
1997
17 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2020 SSA rank
#10,372
Tracked since 1975
Census
Vashaun in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 231 people with the first name Vashaun, which placed it at #35,041 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
#35,041
National first-name rank
People counted
231
231 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vashaun
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vashaun is Black at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Vashaun 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 Vashaun at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.5% · 193
- Two or more races6.5% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 12
- White3.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Vashaun
Vashaun leans heavily male at 97.2% of total registrations, but 6 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Vashaun as a male name
- Ranked #13,910 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1997 (17 births)
Vashaun as a female name
- Ranked #10,372 in 1981
- 6 female births in 1981
- Peak: 1981 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vashaun leans strongly male. 197 people counted with this name were male (86.8%), compared with 30 female bearers (13.2%).
Popularity
Vashaun: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vashaun from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 78 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vashaun 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 Vashaun during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vashaun
The name Vashaun has its origins in the Aramaic language, which was widely spoken in the Middle East during ancient times. It is believed to have derived from the Aramaic word "vash'un," which means "strong" or "powerful." This name gained prominence in the region during the first few centuries AD, when Aramaic was the lingua franca of the region.
In the early days of Christianity, Vashaun was a popular name among the Aramaic-speaking communities of modern-day Syria, Lebanon, and parts of Iraq. It is mentioned in several ancient Aramaic texts and inscriptions from the region, indicating its widespread use during that period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vashaun can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Aramaic scholar and theologian Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD). He is known to have mentioned several individuals with this name in his works, suggesting its popularity among the Aramaic-speaking Christians of his time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Vashaun. One of the most famous was Vashaun of Edessa (5th century AD), a renowned Aramaic scholar and translator who played a crucial role in preserving and disseminating ancient Greek philosophical and scientific works to the Aramaic-speaking world.
Another prominent figure was Vashaun the Hermit (6th century AD), a Christian ascetic and mystic from the Byzantine Empire, who is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. His life and teachings are recorded in the hagiographies of the time.
In the 9th century AD, Vashaun ibn al-Munajjim was a renowned Aramaic astronomer and mathematician from modern-day Iraq, who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and the development of the astrolabe.
During the 12th century, Vashaun al-Razi was a notable Aramaic-speaking physician and philosopher from Persia, who is credited with writing influential works on medicine and philosophy, which were widely studied in the Islamic world.
In more recent times, Vashaun Hakim (1916-1992) was a prominent Aramaic scholar and linguist from Lebanon, who played a crucial role in preserving and promoting the Aramaic language and culture in the 20th century.
While the name Vashaun has its roots in the Aramaic language and culture, it has been adopted and used by various communities around the world, albeit with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation. However, its historical significance and connection to the ancient Aramaic civilization remain an integral part of its legacy.
People
Vashaun + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vashaun 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
Vashaun: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vashaun?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 209 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vashaun 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 1,639,973 US residents.
Is Vashaun a common name?
We classify Vashaun as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 215 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vashaun most popular?
The single biggest year for Vashaun was 1997, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vashaun is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vashaun in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 231 people with the name Vashaun, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,041 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 Vashaun 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 Vashaun?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vashaun leans strongly male. 197 people counted with this name were male (86.8%), compared with 30 female bearers (13.2%). 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 Vashaun?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vashaun is Black at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Vashaun most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Vashaun in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.5% (193 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 Vashaun in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vashaun a male name?
Yes, 97.2% of people registered as Vashaun in the SSA data are male. 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 Vashaun still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vashaun 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 Vashaun 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 are called Vashaun?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.