Vasili
A masculine Russian form of the Greek name Basil, meaning "king".
Name Census estimates that about 191 living Americans carry the first name Vasili. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vasili today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vasili births was 2013 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vasili. 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
191
~ 1 in 1,794,525 Americans
Peak year
2013
14 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,779
Tracked since 1976
Census
Vasili in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 567 people with the first name Vasili, which placed it at #18,871 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
#18,871
National first-name rank
People counted
567
567 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vasili
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vasili is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Vasili 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 Vasili at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.8% · 515
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 35
- Two or more races1.8% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
- Black or African American0.4% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Vasili: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vasili from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 71 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Vasili remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vasili 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 Vasili 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 Vasili
Vasili is a masculine given name derived from the Greek name Basileios, which means "royal" or "kingly". The name has its origins in the Byzantine Empire and is associated with several influential historical figures.
The name gained widespread popularity in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it evolved into the Russian variant Vasily. In medieval times, the name was commonly used among the Russian nobility and ruling classes, reflecting its regal connotations.
One of the earliest notable figures bearing the name was Vasili I, the Grand Prince of Moscow, who reigned from 1389 to 1425. He played a crucial role in consolidating the power of the Muscovite principality and laid the foundations for the eventual rise of the Russian tsardom.
Another prominent figure was Vasili III, the Grand Prince of Moscow and the first Grand Prince to assume the title "Tsar" in 1505. His reign marked a significant period in Russian history as he expanded the territory of the Muscovite state through conquests and diplomatic marriages.
In the 16th century, Vasili IV, also known as Vasili Shuisky, became the Tsar of Russia from 1606 to 1610. His turbulent reign was marked by political upheaval and the Time of Troubles, a period of civil war and foreign intervention in Russia.
The name also has a strong association with the arts and literature. Vasili Zhukovsky, a renowned Russian poet and translator who lived from 1783 to 1852, made significant contributions to the development of Russian literature and helped popularize the romantic movement in Russia.
Vasili Kandinsky, born in 1866 and died in 1944, was a pioneering abstract artist and art theorist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the development of abstract art and is celebrated for his bold, expressive paintings that explored the relationships between color, form, and emotion.
These are just a few examples of prominent figures throughout history who bore the name Vasili, reflecting its enduring presence and cultural significance, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia.
People
Vasili + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vasili 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
Vasili: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vasili?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 191 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vasili 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 1,794,525 US residents.
Is Vasili a common name?
We classify Vasili as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 193 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vasili most popular?
The single biggest year for Vasili was 2013, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vasili is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vasili in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 567 people with the name Vasili, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,871 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 Vasili 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 Vasili?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vasili appears almost entirely male. Of the 564 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Vasili?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vasili is White at 90.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Vasili most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vasili in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.8% (515 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 Vasili in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vasili a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vasili in the SSA data are male. 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 Vasili still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vasili 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 Vasili 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 Vasili?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.