Vida
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "life".
Name Census estimates that about 5,589 living Americans carry the first name Vida. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vida today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vida births was 2022 (277 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vida. 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 Vida with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 61,327 Americans
Peak year
2022
277 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
1975 SSA rank
#1,023
Tracked since 1880
Census
Vida in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,816 people with the first name Vida, which placed it at #3,186 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
#3,186
National first-name rank
People counted
6.8K
6,816 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vida
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vida is White at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.6%) and Black (21.1%). 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 Vida 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 Vida at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.1% · 2,872
- Hispanic or Latino25.6% · 1,744
- Black or African American21.1% · 1,436
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.9% · 402
- Two or more races4.1% · 279
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 83
Gender
Gender distribution for Vida
Out of the 12,285 babies given the name Vida since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Vida as a male name
- Ranked #6,307 in 1975
- 5 male births in 1975
- Peak: 1972 (15 births)
Vida as a female name
- Ranked #1,023 in 2024
- 246 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (277 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vida leans strongly female. 6,710 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 98 male bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Vida: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vida 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 1,812 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Vida remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vida 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 Vida during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vidas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Vida, while Connecticut, Indiana, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 163 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vida
The name Vida has its origins in the Spanish language, derived from the word "vida," which means "life." It is believed to have been used as a given name since the medieval period in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Vida can be found in the 13th-century Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," where a character named Vida appears. This suggests that the name was in use among the Spanish nobility during that time.
In some religious contexts, Vida may have been used as a name to symbolize the gift of life or to honor the divine source of life. However, there is no definitive evidence of its use in religious scriptures or texts.
One notable historical figure named Vida was Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954), an American educator, writer, and social reformer who was actively involved in the settlement house movement and advocated for workers' rights.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Vida Goldstein (1869-1949), an Australian pioneer of women's suffrage and a political activist who campaigned tirelessly for women's rights to vote and hold public office.
In the realm of literature, Vida Douglas Scudder (1832-1914) was an American author and educator who wrote extensively on English literature and founded the Froebel Institute in London, promoting early childhood education.
The name Vida was also borne by Vida Jevidze (1886-1986), a Georgian writer and feminist who played a significant role in the women's rights movement in her country and wrote several novels and short stories.
Lastly, Vida Merkulova (1900-1997) was a Russian-born American painter and sculptor who gained recognition for her abstract expressionist works and was part of the vibrant New York art scene in the mid-20th century.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who carried the name Vida throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Vida
People
Vida + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vida 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
Vida: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vida?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,589 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vida 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 61,327 US residents.
Is Vida a common name?
We classify Vida as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,285 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vida most popular?
The single biggest year for Vida was 2022, when 277 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vida is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vida in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,816 people with the name Vida, or 2.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,186 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 Vida 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 Vida?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vida leans strongly female. 6,710 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 98 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Vida?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vida is White at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.6%) and Black (21.1%). 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 Vida most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vida in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.1% (2,872 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 Vida in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vida a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Vida 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 Vida still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vida 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 Vida 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 Americans are named Vida?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.