Virgie
A feminine diminutive of Virgil, derived from the Latin meaning "youthful".
Name Census estimates that about 3,455 living Americans carry the first name Virgie. It is a predominantly female name (97.0% of registrations). The average person named Virgie today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Virgie births was 1918 (581 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Virgie. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Virgie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 668 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Virgie is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Virgies were born before 1961.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 99,205 Americans
Peak year
1918
581 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1971 SSA rank
#5,630
Tracked since 1880
Census
Virgie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,279 people with the first name Virgie, which placed it at #4,387 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
#4,387
National first-name rank
People counted
4.3K
4,279 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Virgie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Virgie is White at 54.3%. The next largest groups are Black (32.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.9%). 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 Virgie 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 Virgie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.3% · 2,324
- Black or African American32.2% · 1,376
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.9% · 294
- Two or more races2.9% · 125
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 112
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 48
Gender
Gender distribution for Virgie
Virgie leans heavily female at 97.0% of total registrations, but 668 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Virgie as a male name
- Ranked #5,630 in 1971
- 5 male births in 1971
- Peak: 1927 (26 births)
Virgie as a female name
- Ranked #17,478 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (566 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Virgie leans strongly female. 4,225 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 52 male bearers (1.2%).
Popularity
Virgie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Virgie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 5,057 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
Virgie 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 Virgie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Virgies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, Virginia recorded the most babies named Virgie, while New Mexico, Minnesota, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 497 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Virgie
The name Virgie is believed to have originated from the Latin name Virginia, which was derived from the word "virgo" meaning "virgin" or "maiden." The name Virginia was initially used to refer to the Roman goddess of virginity and chastity.
The name Virgie is thought to have emerged as a diminutive or nickname form of Virginia, particularly in English-speaking countries. It gained popularity as a given name in its own right, especially in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Virgie can be found in the 1880 United States Census, where it appeared as a first name for a small number of individuals. However, the name's usage was relatively uncommon until the late 19th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Virgie. For example, Virgie Ellerbe Cuninggim (1893-1973) was an American educator and author who served as the first female president of Salem Academy and College in North Carolina.
Another notable figure was Virgie Pauline Daniels (1888-1962), an American film actress who appeared in various silent films during the early 20th century. She was born in Kansas and had a career in Hollywood during the 1910s and 1920s.
Virgie Bright Gingles (1930-2022) was an African American civil rights activist and educator from South Carolina. She played a significant role in the fight for equal voting rights and served as the president of the South Carolina NAACP for over two decades.
Virgie Branden-Klok (1919-2012) was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II. She was part of the Dutch resistance movement and helped hide Jewish families and Allied pilots from the Nazis during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
Virgie Jones (1913-1995) was an American actress and singer who performed on Broadway and in various films and television shows. She was known for her roles in the musicals "Show Boat" and "Lil' Abner" on Broadway.
While the name Virgie has its roots in Latin and gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it has since become less common as a first name in more recent times. However, it remains a part of historical records and has been borne by notable individuals across various fields throughout the years.
People
Virgie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Virgie 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
Virgie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Virgie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,455 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Virgie 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 99,205 US residents.
Is Virgie a common name?
We classify Virgie as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,468 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Virgie most popular?
The single biggest year for Virgie was 1918, when 581 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Virgie is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Virgie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,279 people with the name Virgie, or 1.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,387 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 Virgie 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 Virgie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Virgie leans strongly female. 4,225 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 52 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Virgie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Virgie is White at 54.3%. The next largest groups are Black (32.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.9%). 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 Virgie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Virgie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.3% (2,324 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 Virgie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Virgie a female name?
Yes, 97.0% of people registered as Virgie 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 Virgie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Virgie 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 Virgie 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 Virgie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.