Vesna
Of Slavic origin, meaning "spring" or "renewal".
Name Census estimates that about 228 living Americans carry the first name Vesna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vesna today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vesna births was 1968 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vesna. 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
228
~ 1 in 1,503,309 Americans
Peak year
1968
12 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,474
Tracked since 1963
Popularity
Vesna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vesna from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 84 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vesna 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 Vesna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vesnas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Vesna
Vesna is a female given name of Slavic origin, derived from the Proto-Slavic word "vesna" meaning "spring" or "new life". It originated in the early Slavic cultures and is particularly common in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, Croatia, and Bulgaria.
The name Vesna has its roots in ancient Slavic mythology, where it was associated with the pagan goddess of spring, fertility, and new beginnings. This goddess was celebrated during the vernal equinox, marking the arrival of spring after the long, harsh winters.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vesna can be found in the Primary Chronicle, a medieval Russian manuscript dating back to the 12th century. This chronicle chronicles the history of the Kievan Rus', a medieval East Slavic state that existed from the 9th to the 13th century.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Vesna. One such example is Vesna Miovic (1942-1976), a prominent Serbian actress and writer who starred in numerous films and television shows during the 1960s and 1970s.
Another notable figure is Vesna Vulović (1950-2016), a Serbian air hostess who holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall from an aircraft without a parachute. In 1972, she miraculously survived a fall of 33,000 feet after a bomb exploded on the plane she was working on.
In the literary world, Vesna Goldsworthy (born 1960) is a Serbian-British writer and academic who has authored several books on the Balkans, including "Chernobyl Strawberries" and "Inventing Ruritania".
Vesna Pusić (born 1949) is a Croatian sociologist and politician who served as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia and the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs from 2011 to 2016.
Lastly, Vesna Tenžera (born 1970) is a prominent Serbian-born Canadian novelist and playwright, known for works such as "Matilda's Waltz" and "The Crocus Hill Chronicles".
People
Vesna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vesna 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
Vesna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vesna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 228 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vesna 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 1,503,309 US residents.
Is Vesna a common name?
We classify Vesna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 248 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vesna most popular?
The single biggest year for Vesna was 1968, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vesna is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Vesna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vesna 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.