Vinaya
One who is gentle, humble, disciplined and obedient.
Name Census estimates that about 107 living Americans carry the first name Vinaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vinaya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vinaya births was 2007 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vinaya. 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 Vinaya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
107
~ 1 in 3,203,312 Americans
Peak year
2007
10 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,104
Tracked since 2002
Census
Vinaya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 374 people with the first name Vinaya, which placed it at #25,370 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
#25,370
National first-name rank
People counted
374
374 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
86.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vinaya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vinaya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and White (2.9%). 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 Vinaya 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 Vinaya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander86.4% · 323
- Black or African American7.2% · 27
- White2.9% · 11
- Two or more races1.9% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Vinaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vinaya from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 47 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vinaya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vinaya 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 Vinaya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vinaya
The name Vinaya is of Sanskrit origin and has its roots in ancient Indian culture. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "vinaya," which means "discipline," "respect," or "reverence." The name gained prominence during the time of the Buddha, who established the Vinaya, a set of monastic rules and guidelines for Buddhist monks and nuns.
In the Buddhist tradition, the Vinaya is one of the three pillars of Buddhist teachings, along with the Sutras (discourses of the Buddha) and the Abhidharma (metaphysical and philosophical teachings). The Vinaya Pitaka, a collection of texts containing the monastic code of conduct, plays a crucial role in maintaining the integrity and discipline of the Buddhist monastic order.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vinaya can be found in the Pali Canon, a collection of Buddhist scriptures. It is mentioned as the name of one of the Buddha's chief disciples, Vinaya Thera, who was renowned for his mastery of the Vinaya Pitaka.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Vinaya. One of the most prominent was Vinaya Pitaka Chariya (c. 5th century CE), a renowned Buddhist monk and scholar who was instrumental in preserving and transmitting the Vinaya texts.
Another significant figure was Vinaya Vijaya (c. 8th century CE), a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka who played a crucial role in the revival of Buddhism in Thailand. He is credited with introducing the Theravada Buddhist tradition to the Thai kingdom.
In the field of Indian classical music, Vinaya Raut (1918-2008) was a renowned Indian classical vocalist and exponent of the Khayal style of Hindustani classical music. She was awarded the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1995 for her contributions to music.
Vinaya Bhave (1900-1982) was an Indian social worker and Gandhian who dedicated her life to the upliftment of women and the underprivileged. She founded several organizations, including the Nari Seva Mandal and the All India Baroda Stree Shikshan Samiti, to promote education and empowerment for women.
Vinaya Kashalkar (1942-2012) was an eminent Indian lawyer and jurist who served as the Advocate General of Maharashtra and as a Judge of the Bombay High Court. He was known for his expertise in constitutional law and human rights.
People
Vinaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vinaya 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
Vinaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vinaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 107 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vinaya 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 3,203,312 US residents.
Is Vinaya a common name?
We classify Vinaya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 108 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vinaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Vinaya was 2007, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vinaya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vinaya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 374 people with the name Vinaya, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,370 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 Vinaya 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 Vinaya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vinaya leans strongly female. 317 people counted with this name were female (83.4%), compared with 63 male bearers (16.6%). 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 Vinaya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vinaya is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and White (2.9%). 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 Vinaya most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Vinaya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.4% (323 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 Vinaya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vinaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vinaya 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 Vinaya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vinaya 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 Vinaya 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 common is the name Vinaya?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.