Venetia
A feminine name of Italian origin referring to Venice, Italy.
Name Census estimates that about 916 living Americans carry the first name Venetia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Venetia today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Venetia births was 1958 (99 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Venetia. 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
916
~ 1 in 374,186 Americans
Peak year
1958
99 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2017 SSA rank
#18,276
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Venetia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Venetia from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 361 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
Venetia 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 Venetia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Venetias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Venetia, while New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Venetia
The name Venetia has its roots in Latin, originating from the term "Veneti", which referred to an ancient Italic people who lived in the region now known as Veneto, in northeastern Italy. This name gained popularity during the Roman era, particularly in the context of the Venetian Republic, a powerful maritime state centered in the city of Venice.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Venetia can be found in ancient Roman texts, where it was used as a regional designation for the area inhabited by the Veneti people. In the 1st century AD, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder mentioned the "Venetia et Histria" region in his work "Naturalis Historia".
During the Middle Ages, the name Venetia was closely associated with the Venetian Republic, which played a significant role in the political and cultural landscape of the Mediterranean world. Several notable individuals from this period bore the name, including Venetia Michiel, a Venetian noblewoman who lived in the 14th century.
In the 16th century, the name Venetia gained further prominence with Venetia Stanley, Countess of Digby (1600-1633), an English noblewoman known for her beauty and intelligence. She was a prominent figure in the literary circles of her time and a patron of the arts.
Another notable figure was Venetia Burney (1768-1840), an English writer and daughter of the renowned novelist Fanny Burney. She published several novels and memoirs, including "Memoirs of Dr. Burney" and "The Wanderer".
In the realm of literature, the name Venetia appears in the works of several acclaimed authors. For instance, Lord Byron featured a character named Venetia in his poetic drama "The Deformed Transformed" (1824), and Benjamin Disraeli used the name for a central character in his novel "Venetia" (1837).
Among other notable individuals with the name Venetia throughout history are Venetia Phair (1918-1976), an English social activist and writer, and Venetia Stevenson (1888-1916), the youngest daughter of the famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson.
People
Venetia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Venetia 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
Venetia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Venetia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 916 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Venetia 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 374,186 US residents.
Is Venetia a common name?
We classify Venetia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,276 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Venetia most popular?
The single biggest year for Venetia was 1958, when 99 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Venetia is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Venetia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Venetia 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.
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.