Veda
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "knowledge, sacred writings".
Name Census estimates that about 7,875 living Americans carry the first name Veda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Veda today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Veda births was 2024 (407 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Veda. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Veda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.9K
~ 1 in 43,524 Americans
Peak year
2024
407 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2019 SSA rank
#692
Tracked since 1881
Census
Veda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,002 people with the first name Veda, which placed it at #3,131 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
#3,131
National first-name rank
People counted
7.0K
7,002 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Veda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Veda is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.2%). 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 Veda 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 Veda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.4% · 3,948
- Black or African American17.5% · 1,224
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.2% · 926
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 443
- Two or more races5.7% · 398
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 63
Gender
Gender distribution for Veda
Out of the 13,701 babies given the name Veda since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Veda as a male name
- Ranked #13,994 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 2019 (5 births)
Veda as a female name
- Ranked #692 in 2024
- 407 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (407 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Veda appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,001 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Veda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Veda from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,520 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Veda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Veda 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 Veda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vedas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Veda, while Connecticut, North Dakota, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 195 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Veda
The name Veda is derived from the Sanskrit word "veda," which means "knowledge" or "wisdom." The Vedas are ancient Hindu sacred texts that form the foundations of Hinduism and are considered the oldest scriptures in the world, dating back to around 1500-500 BCE.
The Vedas were originally composed in Vedic Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that predates Classical Sanskrit. The name Veda is believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
The Vedas are a collection of hymns, prayers, and philosophical teachings that were passed down orally for generations before being written down. They are divided into four main texts: the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda, and the Atharva Veda.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Veda can be found in the Rig Veda, which is considered the oldest of the four Vedas. One of the most famous figures associated with the name Veda is Veda Vyasa, a legendary Hindu sage who is believed to have compiled and arranged the Vedas, as well as authoring the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Veda. Veda Semese (born 1987) is a Samoan rugby union player who has represented Samoa at the international level. Veda Hille (born 1968) is an Australian singer-songwriter and composer known for her eclectic musical style.
In ancient India, the name Veda was also associated with the concept of knowledge and learning. Scholars and students of the Vedas were known as "Vedic," and the Vedic period is considered a significant era in the development of Indian philosophy, religion, and culture.
Another prominent figure with the name Veda is Veda Vyasa Ranade (1843-1898), an Indian social reformer, judge, and scholar who played a vital role in the Indian independence movement. He was also a prominent figure in the Prarthana Samaj, a religious reform movement that aimed to promote rational and progressive values within Hinduism.
Overall, the name Veda has a rich historical and cultural significance, with its origins deeply rooted in the ancient Hindu scriptures and the Vedic period of Indian history.
People
Veda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Veda 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
Veda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Veda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,875 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Veda 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 43,524 US residents.
Is Veda a common name?
We classify Veda as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,701 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Veda most popular?
The single biggest year for Veda was 2024, when 407 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Veda 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 Veda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,002 people with the name Veda, or 2.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,131 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 Veda 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 Veda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Veda appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,001 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Veda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Veda is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.2%). 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 Veda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Veda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.4% (3,948 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 Veda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Veda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Veda 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 Veda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Veda 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 Veda 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 have the name Veda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.