Vernon
A masculine English name derived from the Old French place name Vernone, of unknown meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 62,242 living Americans carry the first name Vernon. It is a predominantly male name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Vernon today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vernon births was 1920 (3,199 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vernon. 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 Vernon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Vernon is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,976 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Vernon have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
62K
~ 1 in 5,507 Americans
Peak year
1920
3,199 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,557
Tracked since 1880
Census
Vernon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 56,774 people with the first name Vernon, which placed it at #828 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
#828
National first-name rank
People counted
57K
56,774 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
18.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vernon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernon is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Vernon 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 Vernon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.4% · 37,109
- Black or African American26.5% · 15,044
- Two or more races2.8% · 1,617
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 1,120
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 1,032
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 852
Gender
Gender distribution for Vernon
Vernon leans heavily male at 98.7% of total registrations, but 1,976 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Vernon as a male name
- Ranked #1,557 in 2024
- 112 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (3,144 births)
Vernon as a female name
- Ranked #11,268 in 1987
- 6 female births in 1987
- Peak: 1922 (64 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vernon appears almost entirely male. Of the 56,780 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Vernon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vernon 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 29,944 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
Vernon 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 Vernon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vernons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Vernon, while Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,732 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vernon
The name Vernon originates from the Old French place name Vernun, which in turn derives from the Gaulish word vernos, meaning "alder tree." This places the name's linguistic roots in northern France during the Gaulish period, which stretched from around the 5th century BC to the 1st century AD.
Vernon likely emerged as a surname first, with people taking on the name to indicate they were from the town of Vernun in Normandy, France. Eventually, it transitioned into use as a masculine given name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Vernon as a first name dates back to the late 11th century. A Norman nobleman named Vernon de Reviers is mentioned in records from this period, having taken his name from the village of Reviers in Normandy.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Vernon Harcourt served as the Archbishop of York from 1289 to 1295. The Harcourt family held significant power and influence in medieval England.
During the Renaissance period, Vernon Forrest (1470-1537) was an English churchman and one of the earliest published writers on arithmetic and mathematics.
In the 17th century, Vernon Ussher (1608-1658) was an English Church of Ireland priest who served as the Archbishop of Armagh from 1625 until his death.
Jumping ahead to the 19th century, Vernon Lushington (1832-1912) was a British judge and civil servant who served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Ionian Islands.
More recently, Vernon Handbury (1919-1998) was a British businessman and philanthropist who co-founded The Rank Organisation, one of the largest entertainment companies in the United Kingdom.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Vernon
People
Vernon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vernon 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
Vernon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vernon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 62,242 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vernon 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 5,507 US residents.
Is Vernon a common name?
We classify Vernon as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 148,252 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vernon most popular?
The single biggest year for Vernon was 1920, when 3,199 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vernon is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vernon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 56,774 people with the name Vernon, or 18.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #828 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 Vernon 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 Vernon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vernon appears almost entirely male. Of the 56,780 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Vernon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernon is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Vernon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vernon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.4% (37,109 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 Vernon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vernon a male name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Vernon 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 Vernon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vernon 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 Vernon 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 Vernon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.