Vanna
A feminine name derived from the Persian word "van" meaning "holy."
Name Census estimates that about 1,747 living Americans carry the first name Vanna. It is a predominantly female name (97.1% of registrations). The average person named Vanna today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vanna births was 1986 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vanna. 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 Vanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Vanna is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 59 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 196,196 Americans
Peak year
1986
122 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1991 SSA rank
#3,802
Tracked since 1905
Census
Vanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,563 people with the first name Vanna, which placed it at #6,292 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
#6,292
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,563 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
45.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.9%. The next largest groups are White (34.4%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Vanna 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 Vanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander45.9% · 1,176
- White34.4% · 881
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 184
- Black or African American7.0% · 180
- Two or more races3.5% · 89
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 53
Gender
Gender distribution for Vanna
Vanna leans heavily female at 97.1% of total registrations, but 59 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Vanna as a male name
- Ranked #8,195 in 1991
- 6 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1987 (14 births)
Vanna as a female name
- Ranked #3,802 in 2024
- 40 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1986 (111 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vanna leans strongly female. 2,302 people counted with this name were female (89.8%), compared with 261 male bearers (10.2%).
Popularity
Vanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vanna from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 513 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Vanna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vanna 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 Vanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Vanna, while South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vanna
The name Vanna is of Latin origin, derived from the feminine form of the name Vannus, meaning "fan" or "winnowing fan." It is believed to have emerged during the ancient Roman era, around the 1st century AD.
One of the earliest known references to the name Vanna can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who mentioned a woman named Vanna in his work "Annals." This suggests that the name was already in use during the early days of the Roman Empire.
In the Middle Ages, the name Vanna gained popularity in Italy, particularly in the regions of Tuscany and Umbria. It was often associated with the agricultural traditions of these areas, where winnowing fans were commonly used to separate grain from chaff.
One notable historical figure with the name Vanna was Vanna d'Arezzo (1391-1457), an Italian nun and mystic from the city of Arezzo. She was known for her religious visions and writings, which earned her a reputation for holiness and piety.
Another prominent individual named Vanna was Vanna Bonta (1954-2018), an American poet, novelist, and artist. She was known for her works exploring themes of feminism, environmentalism, and spirituality.
In the realm of literature, the name Vanna appears in the works of the Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). In his famous work "The Decameron," one of the characters is named Vanna.
Additionally, the name Vanna was used by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) in his famous painting "The Birth of Venus." One of the figures in the painting, believed to represent the wind, is named Vanna.
While the name Vanna has its roots in ancient Roman and Italian culture, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world over the centuries, though its prevalence and usage vary across different regions and cultures.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Vanna
People
Vanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vanna 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
Vanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,747 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vanna 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 196,196 US residents.
Is Vanna a common name?
We classify Vanna as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,010 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Vanna was 1986, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vanna is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,563 people with the name Vanna, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,292 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 Vanna 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 Vanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vanna leans strongly female. 2,302 people counted with this name were female (89.8%), compared with 261 male bearers (10.2%). 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 Vanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanna is Asian/Pacific Islander at 45.9%. The next largest groups are White (34.4%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Vanna most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Vanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.9% (1,176 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 Vanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vanna a female name?
Yes, 97.1% of people registered as Vanna 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 Vanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vanna 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 Vanna 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 Americans are named Vanna?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.