Vana
A feminine Hindu name of Sanskrit origin meaning "forest".
Name Census estimates that about 422 living Americans carry the first name Vana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vana today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vana births was 1948 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vana. 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
422
~ 1 in 812,214 Americans
Peak year
1948
22 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,074
Tracked since 1917
Census
Vana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 683 people with the first name Vana, which placed it at #16,487 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
#16,487
National first-name rank
People counted
683
683 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vana is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.4%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Vana 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 Vana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.8% · 463
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.4% · 78
- Black or African American10.2% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 34
- Two or more races4.0% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 11
Popularity
Vana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vana from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 138 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vana 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 Vana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vanas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Vana
The name Vana has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages spoken in ancient India. It can be traced back to the Vedic period, which is believed to have started around 1500 BCE. The name Vana is derived from the Sanskrit word 'vana,' which means 'forest' or 'woodland.'
In Hindu mythology, the word 'vana' is often associated with the concept of hermitages or ashrams located in the midst of forests. These were places where sages and rishis would retreat to seek spiritual enlightenment and perform penance. The name Vana, therefore, carried connotations of nature, serenity, and a connection with the divine.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vana can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Vana Parva, which translates to 'The Book of the Forest,' is a significant book in the epic Mahabharata, where the Pandava princes are exiled to the forest for thirteen years.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Vana. One of the most famous was Vana Bhatta, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and grammarian who lived in the 7th century CE. He was the author of the influential work 'Kashika Vritti,' a commentary on Panini's grammar treatise 'Ashtadhyayi.'
Another prominent figure was Vana Mallika, a 12th-century Khmer princess and poet from the Angkor Empire in present-day Cambodia. She is renowned for her compositions in the Khmer language, which have been preserved in stone inscriptions.
In the realm of Indian classical music, Vana Ratnam was a celebrated Carnatic vocalist and composer who lived in the 18th century. She is credited with composing several compositions, including the famous 'Rama Rama Guna Seema' kriti.
Vana Parva, a 16th-century Sanskrit playwright and poet, was known for his works such as 'Mudrara-kshasa' and 'Prabodha-chandrodaya.' His plays were influenced by the classical Sanskrit dramas and explored philosophical themes.
Lastly, Vana Bhoomi was a revered Buddhist monk and scholar from the 5th century CE. He is believed to have played a significant role in the spread of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, particularly in the regions of present-day Thailand and Myanmar.
People
Vana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vana 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
Vana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 422 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vana 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 812,214 US residents.
Is Vana a common name?
We classify Vana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 545 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vana most popular?
The single biggest year for Vana was 1948, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vana is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 683 people with the name Vana, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,487 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 Vana 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 Vana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vana leans strongly female. 649 people counted with this name were female (96.0%), compared with 27 male bearers (4.0%). 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 Vana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vana is White at 67.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.4%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Vana most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.8% (463 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 Vana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vana 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 Vana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vana 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 Vana 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 Vana?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.