Vaishali
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "prosperous" or "flourishing".
Name Census estimates that about 195 living Americans carry the first name Vaishali. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vaishali today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vaishali births was 1985 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vaishali. 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 Vaishali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
195
~ 1 in 1,757,715 Americans
Peak year
1985
14 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2015 SSA rank
#10,811
Tracked since 1971
Census
Vaishali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,115 people with the first name Vaishali, which placed it at #7,268 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
#7,268
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,115 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vaishali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vaishali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (0.9%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Vaishali 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 Vaishali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.3% · 2,057
- White0.9% · 19
- Two or more races0.9% · 19
- Black or African American0.4% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 6
Popularity
Vaishali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vaishali from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 50 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Vaishali remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vaishali 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 Vaishali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vaishali
The name Vaishali has its origins in ancient India, tracing back to the Sanskrit language. It is believed to have derived from the word "Vaishali," which was the name of an ancient city located in present-day Bihar, India. This city held significant historical importance as it was one of the earliest republican states of the Indian subcontinent and a prominent center of trade, learning, and Buddhist culture.
One of the earliest references to the name Vaishali can be found in the Buddhist scriptures, particularly the Jatakas, which are a body of folklore relating to the previous births of the Buddha. According to these texts, the city of Vaishali was visited by the Buddha himself, and it was here that he preached some of his renowned sermons.
In ancient Indian literature, the name Vaishali is mentioned in various texts, including the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. In the epic, Vaishali is described as a prosperous and influential city-state during the time of the Kurukshetra War.
The first recorded example of the name Vaishali being used as a personal name dates back to the 5th century BCE. Vaishali was the name of a Buddhist nun who is said to have been one of the first female disciples of the Buddha.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Vaishali:
1. Vaishali (5th century BCE), a Buddhist nun and one of the first female disciples of the Buddha.
2. Vaishali (3rd century BCE), a renowned Indian philosopher and logician who made significant contributions to the field of Nyaya, one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy.
3. Vaishali (6th century CE), a Sanskrit poet and scholar who authored the literary work "Kavyamimansha," a treatise on poetics.
4. Vaishali (11th century CE), a Rajput princess from the Chahamana dynasty, who ruled over parts of present-day Rajasthan, India.
5. Vaishali (15th century CE), a renowned Odissi classical dancer and choreographer from the eastern Indian state of Odisha.
The name Vaishali has endured through the ages, carrying with it a rich historical and cultural significance rooted in ancient Indian tradition. Its association with the Buddhist faith, philosophical discourse, and artistic expression has contributed to its enduring legacy as a name that evokes a sense of wisdom, spirituality, and cultural heritage.
People
Vaishali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vaishali 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
Vaishali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vaishali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 195 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vaishali 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 1,757,715 US residents.
Is Vaishali a common name?
We classify Vaishali as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 204 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vaishali most popular?
The single biggest year for Vaishali was 1985, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vaishali is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vaishali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,115 people with the name Vaishali, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,268 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 Vaishali 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 Vaishali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vaishali appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,120 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Vaishali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vaishali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (0.9%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Vaishali most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Vaishali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (2,057 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 Vaishali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vaishali a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vaishali 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.
Is Vaishali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vaishali 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 Vaishali 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 common is the name Vaishali?
Want to know how many people share the name Vaishali? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.