Vesta
Vesta was last recorded in 2024, when 5 babies were given it; 8,208 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,480 Americans named Vesta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (18% of everyone recorded); the median is 72 years old and half are between 55 and 82.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Vesta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Vesta mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Vesta is “a female given name from Latin in occasional use.” Its etymology gives the senses “to dwell” (ἑστία) and “Hestia” (Ἑστία) and “to be” (wesan).
From Middle English Vesta, from Latin Vesta, related to Ancient Greek ἑστία (hestía, “to dwell”) and Ἑστία (Hestía, “Hestia”), all from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-; see also Old High German and Old English wesan (“to be”), Gothic wisan, Sanskrit वसति (vasati, “abide dwell”). Vesta itself came to mean chaste, pure, or virgin, based from this goddess.
/ˈvɛstə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Vesta?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,532, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
257 babies in 1918, the peak
Vesta peaked in 1918, when 257 girls were given it, #408 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 5 | #17,532 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 8 | #12,110 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 10 | #10,337 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 7 | #13,372 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 5 | #17,355 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 6 | #15,428 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 15 | #7,812 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,715 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 6 | #16,390 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #16,720 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (136)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 8 | #13,277 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 7 | #14,856 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #15,147 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 7 | #15,312 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 6 | #17,520 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 6 | #16,346 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 6 | #15,999 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,777 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 6 | #15,266 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 7 | #12,023 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 6 | #13,451 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 10 | #8,770 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 11 | #8,027 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,636 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,564 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 8 | #10,162 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 13 | #6,515 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 10 | #7,668 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,751 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #12,774 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #12,442 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #9,112 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,993 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 14 | #5,202 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 5 | #12,136 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 9 | #7,392 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 8 | #8,036 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 12 | #5,553 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 7 | #8,414 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 10 | #6,035 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 16 | #4,129 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 12 | #5,003 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 9 | #6,063 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 17 | #3,711 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 21 | #3,264 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 11 | #5,050 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 10 | #5,044 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 22 | #2,787 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 18 | #3,076 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 19 | #2,933 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 21 | #2,740 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 31 | #2,192 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 25 | #2,486 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 26 | #2,410 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 24 | #2,536 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 27 | #2,302 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 36 | #1,877 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 36 | #1,854 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 28 | #2,116 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 25 | #2,245 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 43 | #1,574 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 52 | #1,407 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 48 | #1,422 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 55 | #1,295 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 46 | #1,394 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 45 | #1,373 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 50 | #1,301 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 61 | #1,154 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 55 | #1,226 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 52 | #1,206 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 59 | #1,014 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 60 | #1,015 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 62 | #1,021 | 0.04 |
| 1942 | 73 | #920 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 72 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 84 | #771 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 65 | #877 | 0.06 |
| 1938 | 88 | #736 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 69 | #835 | 0.06 |
| 1936 | 79 | #762 | 0.08 |
| 1935 | 100 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1934 | 110 | #641 | 0.11 |
| 1933 | 102 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1932 | 106 | #654 | 0.10 |
| 1931 | 104 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1930 | 117 | #642 | 0.10 |
| 1929 | 116 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1928 | 111 | #665 | 0.10 |
| 1927 | 125 | #648 | 0.10 |
| 1926 | 162 | #561 | 0.14 |
| 1925 | 156 | #576 | 0.13 |
| 1924 | 194 | #515 | 0.16 |
| 1923 | 169 | #557 | 0.14 |
| 1922 | 195 | #498 | 0.16 |
| 1921 | 197 | #504 | 0.16 |
| 1920 | 243 | #430 | 0.20 |
| 1919 | 242 | #417 | 0.21 |
| 1918 | 257 | #408 | 0.22 |
| 1917 | 213 | #440 | 0.20 |
| 1916 | 220 | #423 | 0.21 |
| 1915 | 195 | #440 | 0.20 |
| 1914 | 160 | #426 | 0.21 |
| 1913 | 122 | #450 | 0.20 |
| 1912 | 169 | #352 | 0.30 |
| 1911 | 111 | #384 | 0.27 |
| 1910 | 109 | #374 | 0.27 |
| 1909 | 97 | #376 | 0.28 |
| 1908 | 112 | #338 | 0.34 |
| 1907 | 103 | #349 | 0.32 |
| 1906 | 107 | #327 | 0.36 |
| 1905 | 103 | #333 | 0.35 |
| 1904 | 99 | #329 | 0.36 |
| 1903 | 105 | #306 | 0.40 |
| 1902 | 109 | #303 | 0.41 |
| 1901 | 84 | #335 | 0.35 |
| 1900 | 112 | #320 | 0.37 |
| 1899 | 93 | #311 | 0.40 |
| 1898 | 91 | #330 | 0.35 |
| 1897 | 92 | #301 | 0.39 |
| 1896 | 64 | #364 | 0.27 |
| 1895 | 96 | #292 | 0.41 |
| 1894 | 100 | #279 | 0.45 |
| 1893 | 52 | #378 | 0.24 |
| 1892 | 60 | #342 | 0.28 |
| 1891 | 60 | #324 | 0.32 |
| 1890 | 42 | #394 | 0.22 |
| 1889 | 54 | #340 | 0.30 |
| 1888 | 51 | #340 | 0.29 |
| 1887 | 28 | #422 | 0.19 |
| 1886 | 47 | #304 | 0.33 |
| 1885 | 27 | #403 | 0.20 |
| 1884 | 33 | #346 | 0.26 |
| 1883 | 19 | #450 | 0.17 |
| 1882 | 21 | #403 | 0.19 |
| 1881 | 20 | #383 | 0.22 |
| 1880 | 20 | #373 | 0.22 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Vesta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Vesta has been given almost only to girls: 27 boys in 136 years of records.
Girls and boys named Vesta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Vesta, and how old are they?
1,480 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 18% of the 8,208 Americans ever recorded as Vesta. The median Vesta alive today is 72 years old; half are between 55 and 82.
The 2020 Census counted 2,004 people named Vesta (1,979 women and girls, 25 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,897 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 409 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 578 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 205 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 129 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 72 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 71 |
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).
Where are babies named Vesta born?
The states with the most babies named Vesta are Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 350 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Oklahoma | 272 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 264 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Missouri | 250 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Ohio | 226 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| West Virginia | 185 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Tennessee | 180 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Arkansas | 178 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Kansas | 156 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Illinois | 148 | not ranked | 0.4× |
Where Vesta is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Vesta is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Vesta with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 8,266 babies since 1880, Vesta is the most given (99% 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 Vesta
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 Vesta and names like it
- Compare Vesta and VestieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sVesta peaked in 1918.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Vesta since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Vesta: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Vesta.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Vesta alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with VMost given first.