Virginia
A feminine given name of Latin origin meaning "virgin maiden".
Name Census estimates that about 197,010 living Americans carry the first name Virginia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Virginia today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Virginia births was 1922 (19,181 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Virginia. 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 Virginia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Virginia is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,009 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Virginia have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
197K
~ 1 in 1,740 Americans
Peak year
1922
19,181 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1991 SSA rank
#510
Tracked since 1880
Census
Virginia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 286,260 people with the first name Virginia, which placed it at #182 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
#182
National first-name rank
People counted
286K
286,260 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
94.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Virginia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Virginia is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.9%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Virginia 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 Virginia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.9% · 208,554
- Hispanic or Latino15.9% · 45,612
- Black or African American6.0% · 17,278
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 7,653
- Two or more races1.8% · 5,256
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1,907
Gender
Gender distribution for Virginia
Out of the 654,381 babies given the name Virginia 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.
Virginia as a male name
- Ranked #8,198 in 1991
- 6 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1927 (74 births)
Virginia as a female name
- Ranked #510 in 2024
- 601 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (19,144 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Virginia appears almost entirely female. Of the 286,258 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Virginia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Virginia 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 170,037 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
Virginia 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 Virginia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0 | 2,948 | 2,948 |
| 1890s | 11 | 5,864 | 5,875 |
| 1900s | 28 | 14,539 | 14,567 |
| 1910s | 200 | 94,322 | 94,522 |
| 1920s | 483 | 169,554 | 170,037 |
| 1930s | 494 | 103,088 | 103,582 |
| 1940s | 320 | 98,998 | 99,318 |
| 1950s | 173 | 69,783 | 69,956 |
| 1960s | 122 | 35,344 | 35,466 |
| 1970s | 79 | 18,053 | 18,132 |
| 1980s | 85 | 14,996 | 15,081 |
| 1990s | 14 | 9,865 | 9,879 |
| 2000s | 0 | 6,704 | 6,704 |
| 2010s | 0 | 5,542 | 5,542 |
| 2020s | 0 | 2,772 | 2,772 |
Geography
Where Virginias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Virginia, while Alaska, Nevada, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12,302 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Virginia
The name Virginia originated from the ancient Roman era. It is derived from the Latin word "virgo" meaning "virgin" or "maiden." The name was initially a title given to the Vestal Virgins, the priestesses of the Roman goddess Vesta, who were sworn to chastity.
During the Roman Empire, Virginia was a common name among Roman women, particularly those from aristocratic families. One of the earliest known references to the name Virginia is found in Livy's history of Rome, where he recounts the story of Virginia, a young woman whose tragic death at the hands of a corrupt official sparked a revolt against the Decemviri in 449 BC.
As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, the name Virginia became associated with the concept of virginity and purity. It was adopted by many early Christian women who chose to remain unmarried and dedicated their lives to religious service.
In the Middle Ages, the name Virginia gained popularity among European nobility, particularly in Italy and France. One notable figure was Saint Virginia Bracchi (c. 1278-1309), an Italian nun and mystic who was canonized by the Catholic Church.
During the Renaissance, the name Virginia was revived and gained renewed popularity. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), the renowned English novelist and essayist, who was a pioneering figure in the modernist literary movement.
Another notable Virginia was Virginia Dare (born 1587), the first English child born in the Americas. She was born to colonists who settled on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina. However, Virginia Dare and the entire Roanoke Colony mysteriously vanished, leaving her fate unknown.
In the 19th century, the name Virginia was particularly popular in the United States, where it was associated with the state of Virginia. One famous bearer of the name was Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe (1822-1847), the wife of the renowned American writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Other notable individuals named Virginia throughout history include Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione (1837-1899), an Italian aristocrat and celebrated beauty; Virginia Woolf's sister, the painter Virginia Stephen (1882-1941); and Virginia Hall (1906-1982), an American spy who played a crucial role in the French Resistance during World War II.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Virginia
People
Virginia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Virginia 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
Virginia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Virginia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 197,010 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Virginia 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 1,740 US residents.
Is Virginia a common name?
We classify Virginia as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 654,381 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Virginia most popular?
The single biggest year for Virginia was 1922, when 19,181 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Virginia is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Virginia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 286,260 people with the name Virginia, or 94.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #182 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 Virginia 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 Virginia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Virginia appears almost entirely female. Of the 286,258 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Virginia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Virginia is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.9%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Virginia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Virginia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.9% (208,554 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 Virginia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Virginia a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Virginia 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 Virginia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia?
You can see how many Americans are named Virginia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.