Vanita
Vanita was last recorded in 2003, when 5 babies were given it; 2,056 Americans have been recorded with it between 1913 and 2003 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,340 Americans named Vanita and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (65% of everyone recorded); the median is 61 years old and half are between 49 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Vanita by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Vanita mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Vanita is “a female given name from Sanskrit used in India.”
Borrowed from Sanskrit वनिता (vanitā).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Vanita?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #18,292, in 2003; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
53 babies in 1971, the peak
Vanita peaked in 1971, when 53 girls were given it, #1,729 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 5 | #18,292 | 2.7 |
| 2000 | 7 | #13,082 | 3.9 |
| 1997 | 5 | #16,055 | 2.9 |
| 1996 | 6 | #13,448 | 3.4 |
| 1995 | 11 | #8,052 | 6.3 |
| 1994 | 14 | #6,645 | 7.8 |
| 1993 | 10 | #8,698 | 5.5 |
| 1992 | 10 | #8,710 | 5.4 |
| 1991 | 19 | #5,169 | 10.1 |
| 1990 | 14 | #6,446 | 7.4 |
Every recorded year (87)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 13 | #6,512 | 7.1 |
| 1988 | 14 | #5,881 | 7.9 |
| 1987 | 16 | #5,066 | 9.2 |
| 1986 | 22 | #3,883 | 12.8 |
| 1985 | 13 | #5,667 | 7.6 |
| 1984 | 19 | #4,161 | 11.3 |
| 1983 | 26 | #3,235 | 15.6 |
| 1982 | 32 | #2,898 | 18.9 |
| 1981 | 19 | #4,157 | 11.4 |
| 1980 | 17 | #4,510 | 10.2 |
| 1979 | 21 | #3,770 | 13.1 |
| 1978 | 13 | #5,205 | 8.5 |
| 1977 | 21 | #3,606 | 13.7 |
| 1976 | 32 | #2,541 | 21.8 |
| 1975 | 25 | #2,965 | 17.1 |
| 1974 | 26 | #2,831 | 17.7 |
| 1973 | 22 | #3,117 | 15.1 |
| 1972 | 28 | #2,595 | 18.4 |
| 1971 | 53 | #1,729 | 31.9 |
| 1970 | 34 | #2,303 | 19.4 |
| 1969 | 32 | #2,295 | 19.0 |
| 1968 | 24 | #2,628 | 14.6 |
| 1967 | 33 | #2,075 | 20.0 |
| 1966 | 45 | #1,699 | 26.6 |
| 1965 | 39 | #1,853 | 22.1 |
| 1964 | 45 | #1,746 | 23.7 |
| 1963 | 37 | #1,949 | 19.2 |
| 1962 | 34 | #2,026 | 17.3 |
| 1961 | 46 | #1,695 | 22.8 |
| 1960 | 52 | #1,557 | 25.7 |
| 1959 | 40 | #1,762 | 19.8 |
| 1958 | 50 | #1,524 | 24.9 |
| 1957 | 31 | #1,984 | 15.2 |
| 1956 | 42 | #1,658 | 20.9 |
| 1955 | 28 | #2,057 | 14.3 |
| 1954 | 36 | #1,733 | 18.5 |
| 1953 | 37 | #1,643 | 19.7 |
| 1952 | 28 | #1,927 | 15.1 |
| 1951 | 23 | #2,110 | 12.8 |
| 1950 | 28 | #1,832 | 16.3 |
| 1949 | 39 | #1,486 | 22.8 |
| 1948 | 30 | #1,735 | 17.7 |
| 1947 | 26 | #1,940 | 14.7 |
| 1946 | 40 | #1,391 | 25.5 |
| 1945 | 15 | #2,336 | 11.5 |
| 1944 | 18 | #2,093 | 13.6 |
| 1943 | 19 | #2,075 | 13.6 |
| 1942 | 17 | #2,202 | 12.6 |
| 1941 | 19 | #1,950 | 15.7 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,099 | 14.0 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,790 | 18.2 |
| 1938 | 24 | #1,593 | 21.7 |
| 1937 | 17 | #1,995 | 16.0 |
| 1936 | 19 | #1,796 | 18.3 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,914 | 17.2 |
| 1934 | 20 | #1,767 | 19.2 |
| 1933 | 16 | #2,046 | 15.9 |
| 1932 | 33 | #1,291 | 30.9 |
| 1931 | 24 | #1,589 | 22.5 |
| 1930 | 21 | #1,808 | 18.7 |
| 1929 | 22 | #1,759 | 19.7 |
| 1928 | 17 | #2,183 | 14.7 |
| 1927 | 20 | #2,015 | 16.8 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,876 | 18.6 |
| 1925 | 33 | #1,440 | 27.1 |
| 1924 | 20 | #2,057 | 16.0 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,721 | 10.8 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,378 | 13.3 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,980 | 17.0 |
| 1920 | 27 | #1,624 | 22.5 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,982 | 16.8 |
| 1918 | 24 | #1,681 | 20.7 |
| 1917 | 21 | #1,769 | 19.4 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,816 | 10.5 |
| 1915 | 9 | #3,116 | 9.1 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,580 | 7.9 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,801 | 11.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Vanita a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Vanita has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 87 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Vanita: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Vanita, and how old are they?
1,340 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 65% of the 2,056 Americans ever recorded as Vanita. The median Vanita alive today is 61 years old; half are between 49 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 1,978 people named Vanita (1,974 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,475 born in the U.S. The Census count is 34% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 100 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 542 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 429 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 250 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 17 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 5,327 babies since 1880, Vanita is the most given (39% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Vanita
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Vanita and names like it
- Compare Vanita and VanityBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sVanita peaked in 1971.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Vanita since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Vanita: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1971The year the most babies were named Vanita.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Vanita alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with VMost given first.