Verena
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "true image" or "true likeness".
Name Census estimates that about 1,040 living Americans carry the first name Verena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Verena today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Verena births was 1916 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Verena. 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 Verena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 329,571 Americans
Peak year
1916
43 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,180
Tracked since 1890
Census
Verena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,756 people with the first name Verena, which placed it at #8,291 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
#8,291
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,756 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Verena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verena is White at 73.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.1%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Verena 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 Verena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.2% · 1,285
- Hispanic or Latino12.1% · 213
- Black or African American6.4% · 113
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 77
- Two or more races2.8% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 19
Popularity
Verena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Verena from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 264 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Verena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Verena 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 Verena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Verenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Indiana recorded the most babies named Verena, while Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Verena
The name Verena originates from the Latin name Verena, which is derived from the word "vera" meaning "true" or "sincere." This name was popular among ancient Romans and has its roots in Latin culture.
The name Verena gained prominence in the early Christian era, particularly in regions where Latin was widely spoken. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Saint Verena, a 4th-century Swiss martyr and patron saint of the town of Zurzach in Switzerland.
In the Middle Ages, the name Verena was widely used across Europe, especially in Germanic and Slavic regions. It was a popular name among nobility and commoners alike. During this period, variations of the name such as Veronika, Veronica, and Vreneli emerged.
One notable historical figure with the name Verena was Verena of Zurzach, a 7th-century Swiss abbess and founder of the monastery of Zurzach. Another prominent individual was Verena Stangl (1957-2022), an Austrian painter and sculptor known for her abstract works.
In the realm of literature, the name Verena appears in the works of various authors. For instance, in Hermann Hesse's novel "Demian," one of the characters is named Verena Reichlin. Additionally, Verena Becker is a character in the novel "The Emigrants" by W.G. Sebald.
Other notable individuals with the name Verena include Verena von Liechtenstein (1904-1983), a Liechtenstein princess and mother of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, and Verena Conzett (1919-2009), a Swiss politician and women's rights activist.
The name Verena has also been used in the entertainment industry. Verena Mundhenke (born 1986) is a German actress, while Verena Plangger (born 1987) is an Austrian pop singer.
Overall, the name Verena has a rich history spanning centuries and cultures, with its origins rooted in Latin and its popularity spreading across Europe and beyond. It has been borne by notable figures in various fields, including religion, literature, politics, and the arts.
People
Verena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Verena 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
Verena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Verena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,040 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Verena 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 329,571 US residents.
Is Verena a common name?
We classify Verena as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,949 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Verena most popular?
The single biggest year for Verena was 1916, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Verena is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Verena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,756 people with the name Verena, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,291 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 Verena 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 Verena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Verena appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,752 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Verena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verena is White at 73.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.1%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Verena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Verena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.2% (1,285 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 Verena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Verena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Verena 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 Verena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Verena 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 Verena 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 Verena?
Find out how many people share the name Verena on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.