Verda
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "truth" or "green".
Name Census estimates that about 1,074 living Americans carry the first name Verda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Verda today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Verda births was 1918 (283 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Verda. 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 Verda with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Verda is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Verdas were born before 1959.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 319,138 Americans
Peak year
1918
283 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1916 SSA rank
#3,488
Tracked since 1882
Census
Verda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,801 people with the first name Verda, which placed it at #8,126 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
#8,126
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,801 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Verda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verda is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (17.9%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Verda 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 Verda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 1,349
- Black or African American17.9% · 323
- Two or more races2.1% · 37
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 29
Gender
Gender distribution for Verda
Out of the 8,069 babies given the name Verda since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Verda as a male name
- Ranked #3,488 in 1916
- 7 male births in 1916
- Peak: 1916 (7 births)
Verda as a female name
- Ranked #16,841 in 1999
- 5 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1918 (283 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Verda appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,798 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Verda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Verda from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,120 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
Verda 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 Verda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Verdas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Texas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Verda, while Georgia, Florida, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 125 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Verda
The name Verda is believed to have originated from the Spanish language. It is derived from the word "verde," which means "green" in English. The name is thought to have first emerged in the Spanish-speaking regions of Europe and the Americas during the late Middle Ages or the Renaissance period, around the 15th to 16th centuries.
The name Verda is closely associated with the vibrant color green, which has long been a symbol of nature, fertility, and renewal in many cultures. It may have been used as a name to represent these positive connotations or as a descriptor for someone with particularly striking green eyes or a connection to the natural world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Verda can be found in the 16th-century Spanish play "La Celestina" by Fernando de Rojas. In this work, a character named Verda is mentioned, though little is known about her historical significance.
Throughout the centuries, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Verda. One such person was Verda Mae Barnes (1899-1985), an American author and journalist who wrote extensively about her travels and experiences living in various parts of the world, including Mexico and Spain.
Another individual named Verda was Verda Viola Moore (1906-1982), an American artist and painter known for her landscapes and still-life works. She was active during the mid-20th century and had several of her pieces exhibited in prominent art galleries across the United States.
In the field of education, there was Verda Tanner (1912-2004), an American educator and administrator who served as the president of Keuka College in New York from 1967 to 1976. She was instrumental in expanding the college's academic programs and facilities during her tenure.
Another notable figure was Verda Welcome (1923-2016), a Native American activist and member of the Navajo Nation. She played a crucial role in advocating for the rights and preservation of Native American culture, particularly in the areas of language and education.
Lastly, Verda Byrd (1901-1976) was an American lawyer and judge who made history as the first African American woman to be appointed as a federal judge in the United States. She served as a judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia from 1949 to 1967.
People
Verda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Verda 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
Verda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Verda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,074 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Verda 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 319,138 US residents.
Is Verda a common name?
We classify Verda as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,069 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Verda most popular?
The single biggest year for Verda was 1918, when 283 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Verda is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Verda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,801 people with the name Verda, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,126 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 Verda 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 Verda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Verda appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,798 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 Verda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verda is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (17.9%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Verda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Verda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (1,349 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 Verda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Verda a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Verda 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 Verda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Verda 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 Verda 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 Verda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.