Vegas
A city in Nevada, the gambling capital of America.
Name Census estimates that about 451 living Americans carry the first name Vegas. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Vegas today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vegas births was 2007 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vegas. 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 Vegas with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
451
~ 1 in 759,987 Americans
Peak year
2007
28 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,624
Tracked since 1979
Census
Vegas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 399 people with the first name Vegas, which placed it at #24,220 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
#24,220
National first-name rank
People counted
399
399 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vegas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vegas is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Black (27.6%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Vegas 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 Vegas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.1% · 180
- Black or African American27.6% · 110
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 52
- Two or more races8.3% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Vegas
Vegas is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 457 total registrations, 312 (68.3%) were male and 145 (31.7%) were female.
Vegas as a male name
- Ranked #5,624 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (18 births)
Vegas as a female name
- Ranked #17,469 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Vegas on both sides of the split. Of the 397 people counted with this name, 247 were male (62.2%) and 150 were female (37.8%).
Popularity
Vegas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vegas 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 178 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Vegas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vegas 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 Vegas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vegas' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Vegas
The name Vegas is a relatively modern invention, originating in the 20th century. It is believed to be derived from the Spanish word "vegas," which refers to a fertile plain or meadow. This connection suggests that the name may have been inspired by the city of Las Vegas, which was founded in 1905 and located in a desert valley.
While the name Vegas does not have a long historical lineage, it has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly after the rise of Las Vegas as a major tourist destination and entertainment hub. Some notable individuals named Vegas include:
1. Vegas Jones (born 1983), an American professional basketball player who played in the NBA and several European leagues.
2. Vegas Tenold (born 1985), a Norwegian journalist and author known for his work on the far-right and white nationalist movements.
3. Vegas Robins (born 1993), a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame as a contestant on the reality TV show The X Factor.
4. Vegas Martin (born 1996), a Canadian professional ice hockey player currently playing in the American Hockey League.
5. Vegas Valmont (born 1970), an American former professional wrestler and actor.
It is worth noting that the name Vegas is not widely used as a first name globally, and its popularity is primarily concentrated in certain regions or communities. The name's connection to the famous city of Las Vegas has likely contributed to its appeal and recognition, although its overall historical significance remains relatively limited compared to more traditional names with deeper cultural roots.
People
Vegas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vegas 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
Vegas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vegas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 451 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vegas 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 759,987 US residents.
Is Vegas a common name?
We classify Vegas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 457 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vegas most popular?
The single biggest year for Vegas was 2007, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vegas 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 Vegas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 399 people with the name Vegas, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,220 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 Vegas 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 Vegas?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Vegas on both sides of the split. Of the 397 people counted with this name, 247 were male (62.2%) and 150 were female (37.8%). 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 Vegas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vegas is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Black (27.6%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Vegas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Vegas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.1% (180 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 Vegas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vegas a male name?
Yes, 68.3% of people registered as Vegas 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 Vegas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vegas 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 Vegas 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 have the name Vegas?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.