Vasilis
Greek masculine name derived from the word "basileus" meaning "king" or "ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 181 living Americans carry the first name Vasilis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Vasilis today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vasilis births was 2000 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vasilis. 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 Vasilis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
181
~ 1 in 1,893,670 Americans
Peak year
2000
11 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,929
Tracked since 1978
Census
Vasilis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 302 people with the first name Vasilis, which placed it at #29,353 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
#29,353
National first-name rank
People counted
302
302 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vasilis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vasilis is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.3%). 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 Vasilis 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 Vasilis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.4% · 279
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 4
- Black or African American1.0% · 3
- Two or more races0.7% · 2
Popularity
Vasilis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vasilis from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 69 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vasilis 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 Vasilis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vasilis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Vasilis
The name Vasilis is derived from the Greek Βασίλειος (Basileios), which in turn comes from the Greek word βασιλεύς (basileus), meaning "king". It was a common name in ancient Greece and the Byzantine Empire, often given to children in the hope that they would grow up to be leaders or rulers.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Basil the Great, a 4th-century bishop and theologian who is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion. He was born around 330 AD in Caesarea, Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey) and is remembered for his influential writings on theology, monastic life, and moral philosophy.
Another notable figure was Basil I the Macedonian, a 9th-century Byzantine emperor who reigned from 867 to 886 AD. He was born in 811 AD in the theme of Macedonia, and his reign marked the beginning of the Macedonian Renaissance, a period of cultural and intellectual revival in the Byzantine Empire.
In the 12th century, Basil Kalkas was a prominent Byzantine scholar and theologian who served as the Archbishop of Thessaloniki from 1180 to 1186 AD. He played a significant role in the theological debates of his time and left behind several influential works on philosophy and theology.
In the 14th century, Basil the Blessed was a prominent Russian saint and miracle worker who lived from 1468 to 1552. He is revered in the Russian Orthodox Church for his ascetic life, spiritual guidance, and numerous miracles attributed to him.
During the Renaissance period, Basilio Bessarione (1403-1472) was a prominent Greek scholar, philosopher, and theologian who played a crucial role in the rediscovery and revival of classical Greek literature in Western Europe. He served as a cardinal in the Catholic Church and was a leading figure in the Council of Florence, which aimed to reunite the Eastern and Western Christian churches.
These are just a few examples of notable figures throughout history who bore the name Vasilis or its variants. The name has been popular across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its deep roots in Greek history and culture.
People
Vasilis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vasilis 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
Vasilis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vasilis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 181 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vasilis 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 1,893,670 US residents.
Is Vasilis a common name?
We classify Vasilis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 186 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vasilis most popular?
The single biggest year for Vasilis was 2000, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vasilis 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 Vasilis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 302 people with the name Vasilis, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,353 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 Vasilis 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 Vasilis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vasilis appears almost entirely male. Of the 301 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Vasilis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vasilis is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.3%). 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 Vasilis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vasilis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (279 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 Vasilis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vasilis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vasilis 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 Vasilis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vasilis 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 Vasilis 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 share the name Vasilis?
You can see how many Americans are named Vasilis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.