Vitali
A masculine name of Russian origin meaning "life" or "vital".
Name Census estimates that about 122 living Americans carry the first name Vitali. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vitali today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vitali births was 2010 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vitali. 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 Vitali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
122
~ 1 in 2,809,462 Americans
Peak year
2010
13 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,213
Tracked since 2004
Census
Vitali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 751 people with the first name Vitali, which placed it at #15,347 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
#15,347
National first-name rank
People counted
751
751 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vitali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vitali is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Vitali 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 Vitali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.0% · 661
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 62
- Two or more races2.1% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 6
- Black or African American0.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Vitali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vitali 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 78 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vitali 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 Vitali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vitalis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Vitali
The given name Vitali originated from the Latin name Vitalis, which derived from the Latin word "vita" meaning "life." This name first appeared in ancient Rome during the Roman Empire era. The name Vitalis was a common Roman cognomen or personal name.
In the early Christian era, the name Vitalis became associated with several early Christian saints and martyrs. One of the most notable was Saint Vitalis of Milan, who lived in the 3rd century AD and was martyred during the Diocletianic Persecution. Another important early figure was Saint Vitalis of Gaza, who lived in the 7th century AD and was a Christian monk and abbot.
The name Vitali emerged as a variant spelling of the original Latin name Vitalis during the Middle Ages, particularly in Italy and other parts of southern Europe. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Vitali was Vitali da Siena, an Italian painter who lived in the 13th century.
In the Renaissance period, the name Vitali continued to be used in Italy. A notable example was Vitali Girolamo, an Italian composer and music theorist who lived from 1589 to 1668. Another important figure was Vitali Vitali, an Italian painter who lived from 1708 to 1789.
During the 19th century, the name Vitali became more widely used across Europe. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Vitali Nikolayevich Voloshinov, a Russian philosopher and literary critic who lived from 1895 to 1936. Another notable figure was Vitali Ivanovich Smirnov, a Russian mathematician who lived from 1916 to 1986 and made significant contributions to probability theory.
In the 20th century, the name Vitali continued to be used in various parts of the world. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Vitali Lampada, an Italian football player who played for the Italian national team and several clubs in Italy and Switzerland between 1920 and 1938. Another notable figure was Vitali Klitschko, a Ukrainian professional boxer and politician who was born in 1971 and became a world heavyweight champion.
People
Vitali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vitali 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
Vitali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vitali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 122 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vitali 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 2,809,462 US residents.
Is Vitali a common name?
We classify Vitali as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 123 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vitali most popular?
The single biggest year for Vitali was 2010, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vitali is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vitali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 751 people with the name Vitali, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,347 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 Vitali 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 Vitali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vitali leans strongly male. 740 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 19 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Vitali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vitali is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Vitali most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vitali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.0% (661 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 Vitali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vitali a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vitali 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 Vitali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vitali 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 Vitali 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 Vitali?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Vitali at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.