Vladimir
Slavic masculine name derived from an old Slavic root meaning "ruler of the world".
Name Census estimates that about 5,610 living Americans carry the first name Vladimir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vladimir today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vladimir births was 2016 (180 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vladimir. 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 Vladimir with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 61,097 Americans
Peak year
2016
180 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,947
Tracked since 1913
Census
Vladimir in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 23,371 people with the first name Vladimir, which placed it at #1,450 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
#1,450
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
23,371 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vladimir
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vladimir is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.5%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Vladimir 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 Vladimir at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.1% · 16,841
- Hispanic or Latino20.5% · 4,784
- Black or African American4.9% · 1,136
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 359
- Two or more races1.0% · 232
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 19
Popularity
Vladimir: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vladimir from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,583 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vladimir remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vladimir 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 Vladimir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vladimirs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Vladimir, while Nevada, Missouri, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 156 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vladimir
The name Vladimir is a masculine given name of East Slavic origin. It is derived from the Old East Slavic name "Volodimer" or "Volodimer", which is a compound of the words "volod" meaning "to possess" or "to rule" and "mir" meaning "peace" or "world". The name essentially translates to "ruler of peace" or "ruler of the world".
The name Vladimir has its roots in the early Slavic history, particularly in the territory of the Kievan Rus', a medieval East Slavic state that existed from the 9th to the 13th century. It was first recorded in written sources in the 10th century, with the most notable being the Primary Chronicle, a historical document written in the 12th century.
One of the earliest and most famous bearers of the name Vladimir was Vladimir the Great, also known as Vladimir I or Vladimir Sviatoslavich (c. 958–1015). He was the Prince of Novgorod, the Grand Prince of Kiev, and the ruler of Kievan Rus' from 980 until his death. Vladimir played a pivotal role in the Christianization of Kievan Rus', and his reign marked a significant turning point in the history of the region.
Another notable historical figure with the name Vladimir was Vladimir Monomakh (1053–1125), a Grand Prince of Kievan Rus' who ruled from 1113 to 1125. He was an influential ruler and author of the "Instruction" (Pouchenie), a literary work that provided guidance on moral values and statecraft.
In the 14th century, Vladimir Olgerdovich (c. 1330–1399) was a Grand Duke of Lithuania who played a crucial role in the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its expansion.
During the 16th century, Vladimir Starisky (c. 1520–1597) was a prominent Polish-Lithuanian military commander and statesman who served as a castellan and voivode in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the 19th century, Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900) was a Russian philosopher, poet, and literary critic who made significant contributions to the development of Russian philosophy and religious thought.
These are just a few examples of notable historical figures who bore the name Vladimir, highlighting its long-standing presence and significance in Slavic history and culture.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Vladimir
People
Vladimir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vladimir 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
Vladimir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vladimir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,610 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vladimir 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 61,097 US residents.
Is Vladimir a common name?
We classify Vladimir as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,102 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vladimir most popular?
The single biggest year for Vladimir was 2016, when 180 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vladimir is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vladimir in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 23,371 people with the name Vladimir, or 7.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,450 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 Vladimir 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 Vladimir?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vladimir appears almost entirely male. Of the 23,369 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Vladimir?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vladimir is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.5%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Vladimir most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vladimir in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.1% (16,841 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 Vladimir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vladimir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vladimir 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 Vladimir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vladimir 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 Vladimir 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 people are called Vladimir?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.