Vaida
An ancient Lithuanian feminine name of Old Prussian origin meaning "beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 869 living Americans carry the first name Vaida. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vaida today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vaida births was 2015 (111 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vaida. 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.
People living today
869
~ 1 in 394,424 Americans
Peak year
2015
111 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,742
Tracked since 1926
Popularity
Vaida: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vaida from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 571 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vaida remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vaida 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 Vaida during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vaidas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Pennsylvania, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Vaida, while Kansas, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vaida
The name Vaida has its origins in Lithuanian, a Baltic language spoken primarily in Lithuania. It is derived from the Lithuanian word "vaidila," which referred to a pagan priest or soothsayer in ancient Baltic cultures. The name can be traced back to the 13th century and the era of Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Vaida was a common name among the nobility and ruling classes in Lithuania during the medieval period. It is believed to have been borne by several members of the Gediminid dynasty, which ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 14th to the 16th century. However, specific historical figures with this name from that time are not well documented.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vaida can be found in the 16th-century work "Chronica Prussiae" by Caspar Schütz, which mentions a Lithuanian nobleman named Vaida Gedgaudas from the 15th century. Another notable historical figure with this name was Vaida Butrimas, a Lithuanian-Polish military commander who fought against the Teutonic Knights in the early 16th century.
In more recent history, Vaida Žilinskaitė (1938-2018) was a prominent Lithuanian artist and painter known for her abstract expressionist works. Vaida Jurkonytė (born 1983) is a Lithuanian basketball player who has represented Lithuania in several international competitions.
Other notable individuals with the name Vaida include Vaida Sabeckytė (born 1960), a Lithuanian politician and former Minister of Culture; Vaida Čeplinskas (born 1985), a Lithuanian professional basketball player; and Vaida Kalinkaitė-Butkienė (born 1968), a Lithuanian singer and actress.
While the name Vaida has its roots in ancient Lithuanian culture and history, it continues to be a popular name in Lithuania and among Lithuanian communities around the world. Its connection to the role of pagan priests and soothsayers in Baltic mythology adds a unique cultural significance to this name.
People
Vaida + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vaida 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
Vaida: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vaida?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 869 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vaida 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 394,424 US residents.
Is Vaida a common name?
We classify Vaida as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 881 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vaida most popular?
The single biggest year for Vaida was 2015, when 111 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vaida is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Vaida a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vaida in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.