Veronika
From Latin, meaning "true image" or "bearer of victory".
Name Census estimates that about 3,317 living Americans carry the first name Veronika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Veronika today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Veronika births was 2007 (118 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Veronika. 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 Veronika with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 103,333 Americans
Peak year
2007
118 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,038
Tracked since 1920
Census
Veronika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,353 people with the first name Veronika, which placed it at #3,336 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
#3,336
National first-name rank
People counted
6.4K
6,353 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Veronika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Veronika is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Veronika 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 Veronika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.0% · 5,085
- Hispanic or Latino12.2% · 778
- Black or African American2.9% · 184
- Two or more races2.7% · 169
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 124
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 13
Popularity
Veronika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Veronika from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 970 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
Veronika 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 Veronika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Veronikas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Veronika, while Georgia, Connecticut, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 97 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Veronika
The name Veronika has its origins in the Late Latin name Veronica, which is derived from the Greek phrase "vera icon" meaning "true image." This phrase refers to the legend of St. Veronica, a pious woman who wiped the face of Jesus Christ with a cloth as he carried the cross to Calvary. The Image of Christ's face was said to have been miraculously transferred onto the cloth, which later became known as the Veil of Veronica.
The earliest known recording of the name Veronika dates back to the 6th century, where it was used to refer to the cloth bearing Christ's image. It wasn't until the 13th century that the name began to be used as a personal name for women, particularly in Western Europe. The popularity of the name can be attributed to the widespread veneration of St. Veronica during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Veronika was Veronika Deseniška (c. 1245-1298), a Slovenian nun and religious writer who lived in the 13th century. Another early bearer of the name was Veronika of Milan (c. 1445-1497), an Italian mystic and visionary who founded the Order of the Sisters of St. Martha.
During the Renaissance, the name gained further prominence with figures like Veronika Franco (1546-1591), a renowned Venetian courtesan and poet, and Veronika Gambara (1495-1550), an Italian noblewoman and poet.
In the 17th century, Veronika Koudelková (1630-1694) was a Czech noblewoman and landowner who played a significant role in the history of Bohemia. The 18th century saw the birth of Veronika Pollitzer (1740-1829), an Austrian-born painter and engraver who worked in London.
In more recent history, notable figures with the name Veronika include Veronika Dudarova (1916-2009), a Soviet and Russian actress, and Veronika Dolina (born 1964), a Ukrainian singer and songwriter.
People
Veronika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Veronika 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
Veronika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Veronika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,317 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Veronika 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 103,333 US residents.
Is Veronika a common name?
We classify Veronika as "Rare". It ranks above 95.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,436 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Veronika most popular?
The single biggest year for Veronika was 2007, when 118 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Veronika is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Veronika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,353 people with the name Veronika, or 2.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,336 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 Veronika 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 Veronika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Veronika appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,350 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Veronika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Veronika is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and Black (2.9%). 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 Veronika most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Veronika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.0% (5,085 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 Veronika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Veronika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Veronika 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 Veronika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Veronika 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 Veronika 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 Americans are named Veronika?
Find out how many people share the name Veronika on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.