Vernadette
A feminine name derived from Greek elements meaning "genuine" or "true love".
Name Census estimates that about 55 living Americans carry the first name Vernadette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vernadette today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vernadette births was 1959 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vernadette. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Vernadette. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
55
~ 1 in 6,231,897 Americans
Peak year
1959
9 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1978 SSA rank
#9,712
Tracked since 1959
Census
Vernadette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 130 people with the first name Vernadette, which placed it at #48,722 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
#48,722
National first-name rank
People counted
130
130 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vernadette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernadette is Black at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.3%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Vernadette 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 Vernadette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.8% · 79
- Asian and Pacific Islander22.3% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 7
- White4.6% · 6
- Two or more races3.8% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 4
Popularity
Vernadette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vernadette from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 34 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Vernadette remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vernadette 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 Vernadette 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 Vernadette
The name Vernadette has its origins in the French language and culture. It is a feminine given name derived from the Old French name "Virendelitte," which itself is a combination of the Germanic elements "virindia" (meaning "green") and "lind" (meaning "soft" or "tender").
In the early Middle Ages, the name Virendelitte was relatively common in parts of what is now northern France and Belgium. It evolved into the more modern spelling of Vernadette by the 12th century, primarily among French-speaking nobility and upper classes.
While there are no definitive records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some historians believe it may have been used as a diminutive form of the name Bernadette, which has roots in the Catholic tradition and veneration of St. Bernadette Soubirous, the young French girl who reported visions of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes in 1858.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Vernadette dates back to the 13th century, when a noblewoman named Vernadette de Châtillon was mentioned in a chronicle of the court of King Louis IX of France. Another early bearer of the name was Vernadette de Montfort, a 14th-century French poet and courtier.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Vernadette. These include:
1. Vernadette de Foix (1470-1537), a French noblewoman and courtier during the reigns of Kings Charles VIII and Louis XII.
2. Vernadette de Bourbon (1516-1589), a member of the French royal House of Bourbon and abbess of the Fontevraud Abbey.
3. Vernadette Duval (1648-1710), a French painter and portraitist active during the Baroque period.
4. Vernadette de Clermont-Tonnerre (1723-1792), a French aristocrat and salon hostess during the Enlightenment era.
5. Vernadette Caillaux (1875-1953), a French socialite and feminist activist, wife of former Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux.
While the name Vernadette has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it retains a connection to its French roots and historical significance as a name borne by various notable figures throughout the centuries.
People
Vernadette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vernadette 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
Vernadette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vernadette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vernadette 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 6,231,897 US residents.
Is Vernadette a common name?
We classify Vernadette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 65 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vernadette most popular?
The single biggest year for Vernadette was 1959, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vernadette is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vernadette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 130 people with the name Vernadette, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,722 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 Vernadette 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 Vernadette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vernadette appears almost entirely female. Of the 128 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Vernadette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernadette is Black at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.3%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Vernadette most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Vernadette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (79 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 Vernadette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vernadette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vernadette 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 Vernadette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vernadette 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 Vernadette 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 Vernadette?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.