Vena
A feminine name of Hindi origin meaning "sacred river".
Name Census estimates that about 741 living Americans carry the first name Vena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vena today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vena births was 1919 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vena. 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 Vena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
741
~ 1 in 462,556 Americans
Peak year
1919
74 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,332
Tracked since 1880
Census
Vena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,129 people with the first name Vena, which placed it at #11,385 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
#11,385
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,129 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vena is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Black (25.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.6%). 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 Vena 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 Vena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.9% · 563
- Black or African American25.4% · 287
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.6% · 142
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 60
- Two or more races4.9% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 22
Popularity
Vena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vena from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 523 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vena 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 Vena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Venas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Kentucky, Texas, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Vena, while West Virginia, Mississippi, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vena
The name Vena has its origins in ancient Sanskrit, one of the oldest Indo-European languages. It is believed to have derived from the Sanskrit word "vena," which means "a braid of hair" or "a plaited lock." The name has been found in various Hindu texts and scriptures, dating back to the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE).
One of the earliest references to the name Vena can be found in the Puranas, a collection of ancient Hindu texts. According to the Vishnu Purana, Vena was the name of a legendary king who ruled over the entire earth during the Satya Yuga (the first age in the Hindu cosmological cycle). He was known for his arrogance and disregard for the gods, which eventually led to his downfall.
In the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics, Vena is mentioned as the father of Prithu, who is believed to be the first human king. Prithu is said to have been born from the churning of Vena's thigh after his death, as the sages sought to create a righteous ruler.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Vena. One of the earliest recorded examples is Vena Samdhi (c. 7th century CE), an Indian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry.
Another prominent figure is Vena Bhatta (c. 8th century CE), a Sanskrit grammarian and philosopher who wrote extensively on the philosophy of language and the nature of reality.
In the 14th century, Vena Samvat was a notable Indian astronomer and mathematician who made advancements in the field of astronomy and the calculation of planetary positions.
In more recent times, Vena Prasad (1892-1978) was an Indian freedom fighter and political activist who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement.
Vena Narayanan (1932-2005) was a renowned Indian mathematician and computer scientist, known for his contributions to the field of theoretical computer science and the development of the Curry-Howard isomorphism.
While the name Vena has its roots in ancient Sanskrit, it has been adopted and used across various cultures and regions over time, with its own unique interpretations and associations.
People
Vena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vena 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
Vena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 741 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vena 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 462,556 US residents.
Is Vena a common name?
We classify Vena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,804 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vena most popular?
The single biggest year for Vena was 1919, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vena is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,129 people with the name Vena, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,385 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 Vena 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 Vena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vena leans strongly female. 1,114 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 19 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Vena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vena is White at 49.9%. The next largest groups are Black (25.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.6%). 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 Vena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.9% (563 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 Vena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vena 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 Vena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vena 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 Vena 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 named Vena?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.