Vanita
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "charming" or "beautiful woman".
Name Census estimates that about 1,234 living Americans carry the first name Vanita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vanita today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vanita births was 1971 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vanita. 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 Vanita with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 277,759 Americans
Peak year
1971
53 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2003 SSA rank
#18,298
Tracked since 1913
Census
Vanita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,977 people with the first name Vanita, which placed it at #7,641 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
#7,641
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,977 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
33.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vanita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanita is Black at 33.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (32.1%) and White (29.1%). 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 Vanita 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 Vanita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American33.6% · 665
- Asian and Pacific Islander32.1% · 635
- White29.1% · 575
- Two or more races2.7% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 13
Popularity
Vanita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vanita from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 387 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vanita 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 Vanita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vanitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, Missouri, Ohio recorded the most babies named Vanita, while Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vanita
Vanita is a feminine given name with origins tracing back to Sanskrit, an ancient language of India. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "vanita," which means "a woman" or "a lady." It is believed to have been in use as a name since ancient times in the Indian subcontinent.
The name Vanita is closely associated with Hindu mythology and literature. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the ancient Hindu scripture, the Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a character. Additionally, the name appears in various other Sanskrit texts and literary works throughout the centuries.
Historically, the name Vanita has been particularly popular among Hindu communities in India. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Vanita Devi, a Hindu saint and mystic who lived in the 16th century. She was known for her devotional poetry and her teachings on spirituality.
Another notable figure with the name Vanita was Vanita Vishram, a prominent Indian social reformer and educator who lived in the 19th century. She played a significant role in promoting education for women and advocating for their rights in colonial India.
In the field of literature, Vanita Redgrave (1937-2022) was a renowned English actress and political activist. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe.
Vanita Gupta (born 1974) is an American civil rights lawyer and the current Associate Attorney General of the United States. She has been a vocal advocate for civil rights and has worked to combat discrimination and promote equal justice.
Vanita Shastri (born 1957) is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She has been instrumental in preserving and promoting the traditional Indian dance form of Kathak and has received numerous awards and honors for her contributions to the art.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Vanita. The name continues to be popular in various parts of the world, particularly among those with Indian or South Asian heritage, and carries a rich cultural significance rooted in its Sanskrit origins.
People
Vanita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vanita 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
Vanita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vanita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vanita 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 277,759 US residents.
Is Vanita a common name?
We classify Vanita as "Rare". It ranks above 91.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,056 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vanita most popular?
The single biggest year for Vanita was 1971, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vanita is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vanita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,977 people with the name Vanita, or 0.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,641 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 Vanita 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 Vanita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vanita appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,978 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 Vanita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanita is Black at 33.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (32.1%) and White (29.1%). 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 Vanita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Vanita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.6% (665 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 Vanita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vanita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vanita 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 Vanita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vanita 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 Vanita 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 named Vanita?
Find out how many people share the name Vanita on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.