Vlad
A masculine name of Slavic origin meaning "to rule" or "power".
Name Census estimates that about 522 living Americans carry the first name Vlad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vlad today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vlad births was 2004 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vlad. 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 Vlad with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
522
~ 1 in 656,618 Americans
Peak year
2004
26 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,780
Tracked since 1995
Census
Vlad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,452 people with the first name Vlad, which placed it at #6,517 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
#6,517
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,452 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vlad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vlad is White at 95.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.2%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Vlad 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 Vlad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.1% · 2,331
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 54
- Black or African American1.0% · 25
- Two or more races0.9% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Vlad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vlad from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 212 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vlad remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vlad 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 Vlad during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vlads live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Washington, Illinois recorded the most babies named Vlad, while New York, Illinois, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vlad
The name Vlad is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, derived from the Slavic word "vladati," meaning "to rule" or "to govern." It has been used primarily in Eastern European countries, particularly in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Russia.
The earliest recorded use of the name Vlad can be traced back to the 9th century, when it was borne by Vlad I, a ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire (reigned 893-917). In the 14th century, the name gained prominence with Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler, the notorious ruler of Wallachia (modern-day southern Romania) from 1448 to 1476.
Vlad III, known for his brutal methods of punishment, including impalement, has become a significant figure in Romanian folklore and inspired the character of Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" (published in 1897). His life and reign have been the subject of numerous historical accounts and literary works.
Another notable bearer of the name Vlad was Vlad Tepes (c. 1431-1476), a Romanian ruler who was also known as Vlad the Impaler. He was the son of Vlad Dracul, a member of the Order of the Dragon, and ruled Wallachia intermittently between 1456 and 1462.
In Russian history, Vlad or Vladimir was a common name among rulers and nobility. One of the most notable figures was Vladimir the Great (c. 958-1015), the Grand Prince of Kyiv, who is credited with converting the Kievan Rus' to Christianity in 988.
The name Vlad has also been borne by other historical figures, such as Vlad Voiculescu (1884-1953), a Romanian poet and playwright, and Vlad Ghika (1873-1954), a Romanian diplomat and politician.
While the name Vlad has been more prevalent in Eastern European cultures, it has also been used in other parts of the world, albeit less frequently. The name's association with historical figures like Vlad the Impaler and its Slavic roots have contributed to its distinct identity and cultural significance.
People
Vlad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vlad 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
Vlad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vlad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 522 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vlad 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 656,618 US residents.
Is Vlad a common name?
We classify Vlad as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 527 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vlad most popular?
The single biggest year for Vlad was 2004, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vlad is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vlad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,452 people with the name Vlad, or 0.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,517 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 Vlad 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 Vlad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vlad appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,457 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Vlad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vlad is White at 95.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.2%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Vlad most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vlad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.1% (2,331 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 Vlad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vlad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vlad 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 Vlad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vlad 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 Vlad 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 Vlad?
See how many Americans are named Vlad on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.