Venda
An African feminine name meaning "to love" or "loved one".
Name Census estimates that about 87 living Americans carry the first name Venda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Venda today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Venda births was 1959 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Venda. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Venda is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Vendas were born before 1965.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Venda. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
87
~ 1 in 3,939,705 Americans
Peak year
1959
11 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1971 SSA rank
#9,601
Tracked since 1920
Census
Venda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 157 people with the first name Venda, which placed it at #44,257 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
#44,257
National first-name rank
People counted
157
157 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Venda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Venda is White at 61.8%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.2%). 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 Venda 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 Venda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.8% · 97
- Black or African American33.1% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.2% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 3
Popularity
Venda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Venda from the 1920s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 69 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Venda 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 Venda 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 Venda
The name Venda likely originated from the Venda people, an ethnic group located in the Limpopo province of South Africa and the Vhembe district of Zimbabwe. The Venda language, known as Tshivenda, is a part of the Bantu language family and is closely related to Sesotho and Xitsonga.
The Venda people have a rich cultural heritage dating back several centuries. Their name is believed to come from the word "venda," which means "to trade" or "to barter" in their language. This suggests that the Venda people were known for their skills in trading and commerce in ancient times.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Venda can be found in the writings of Portuguese explorer Diogo de Alcochete, who encountered the Venda people during his travels in the 16th century. He described them as a powerful and influential kingdom in the region.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Venda. One of the earliest was Venda Musinga (c. 1460-1530), a legendary Venda king who is credited with uniting the various Venda clans into a single kingdom. His reign is said to have brought stability and prosperity to the region.
Another notable figure was Venda Ngungunyana (1850-1906), the last emperor of the Gaza Empire in Mozambique. He led a fierce resistance against Portuguese colonial forces before being captured and exiled to the Azores Islands, where he eventually died.
In the modern era, Venda Makhoere (1920-2008) was a respected Venda chief and political leader who played a significant role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He was recognized for his efforts to preserve Venda culture and traditions.
Additionally, Venda Neville Alexander (1936-2012) was a renowned South African academic, writer, and activist who championed multilingualism and advocated for the recognition of African languages in education and public life.
Lastly, Venda Tshilidzi Marwala (born 1971) is a prominent South African engineer, academic, and author. He has made significant contributions to the field of artificial intelligence and has served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg since 2018.
While the name Venda may have ancient roots, it continues to be a cherished name among the Venda people, serving as a reminder of their rich cultural heritage and resilience in the face of adversity.
People
Venda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Venda 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
Venda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Venda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 87 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Venda 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 3,939,705 US residents.
Is Venda a common name?
We classify Venda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 152 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Venda most popular?
The single biggest year for Venda was 1959, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Venda is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Venda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 157 people with the name Venda, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,257 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 Venda 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 Venda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Venda leans strongly female. 158 people counted with this name were female (94.6%), compared with 9 male bearers (5.4%). 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 Venda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Venda is White at 61.8%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.2%). 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 Venda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Venda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.8% (97 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 Venda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Venda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Venda 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 Venda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Venda 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 Venda 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 Venda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.